NUFORC UFO Sighting 187402
Occurred: 2025-02-01 18:55 Local
Reported: 2025-02-01 17:55 Pacific
Duration: Ongoing (50 minutes)
No of observers: 2

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA
Location details: Bright object moving insanely fast, gettin closer and further within seconds

Shape: Circle
Color: Bright white
Estimated Size: Idk
Viewed From: Land
Direction from Viewer: Idk
Angle of Elevation: 45
Closest Distance: 500 feet maybe
Estimated Speed: Faster than the speed of a blink
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object

I saw a bright circle object that my gf thought was a star then it came closer in seconds and then moved so far away I couldn’t see it.

This object moved closer and then out of sight within a couple of seconds. Circle like object that was brightest white I’ve ever seen




Posted 2025-02-05

NUFORC UFO Sighting 180798
Occurred: 2024-03-12 04:40 Local
Reported: 2024-03-12 04:10 Pacific
Duration: 10 - 15 seconds
No of observers: 2

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Unknown
Viewed From: Land
Direction from Viewer: East North East
Angle of Elevation: 80
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

Immediately after watching Space X Dragon flew over us, an unknown curved shaped object flew the opposite way. No lights. No sounds.

Space X Dragon Capsule came from left to right from our view but immediately after it passed over us, a curved “ ( “ shaped object with no lights, no sound & no smoke, started to appear from the right to left moving pretty fast. (not faster than dragon though.) My Girlfriend was with me at the time but I was the one who caught it first. I tried to record immediately since I recorded the Space Dragon Re-Entry but the object went behind our street light & we both lost sight of it. Whatever it was, we truly believed it was not an airplane ( airplanes were out that night too & we seen them easily ) no way it was birds, it has no lights although it was strange for us to be able to see it kind of glow somewhat but not really bright, but enough to see it & automatically assumed “ UFO or UAP “ It also happened right after the Re-Entry so coincidence? Maybe Aliens wanted to watch the Space X Dragon Re-Entry Too but who knows. I’ve seen plenty of objects that are unexplainable but this one was the most recent & clear sighting. Happened just after 4:44am CST.

Posted 2024-03-13

NUFORC UFO Sighting 174771
Occurred: 2023-02-28 20:06 Local
Reported: 2023-02-28 19:09 Pacific
Duration: about 1 mile
No of observers: 2

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA
Location details: about a mile from my home

Shape: Circle
Explanation: Planet/Star - Certain
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object, Changed Colo

Two round objects hovering above eachother

I was outside having a cigarette and i seen these two bright lights in the sky i originally thought they were stars , then i later went back outside and the two objects had moved lower to the ground. i then got my phone out and took pictures of them . when i went inside to grab a drink and came back out they had then moved again , this time one of them went up then back down and over to the right a little and then back under the other object. i then ran inside to tell my daughter to go back to sleep , went back outside to see them and they were gone.



NUFORC Note:

Jupiter and Venus


Posted 2023-03-06

NUFORC UFO Sighting 174566
Occurred: 2023-02-14 15:55 Local
Reported: 2023-02-14 15:30 Pacific
Duration: Less than a minute
No of observers: 1

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA
Location details: Fort Smith, AR on the corner of C street and Towson, facing South

Shape: Circle
Explanation: Balloon - Possible


Seen a shiny object moving across the sky at 3:55pm on 2/14/23.

I was driving home from work, I noticed a shiny circle in the sky to my left (looking south). At the next stop sign I aimed my phone and tried to take a picture. To my eye, the object was shiny and moving south/southwest. I immediately thought it was a plane, but there was no contrail coming off of it. My next best guess was a satellite, but I’m not sure if you can see those during the day.







Posted 2023-03-06

NUFORC UFO Sighting 167302
Occurred: 2022-03-29 21:50 Local
Reported: 2022-03-29 21:15 Pacific
Duration: 15 minutes
No of observers: 3

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Lights on object

Fast moving objects, moving easy to west.

My mother and Aunt came home tonight at approximately 9:50 pm CST. They watched the sky trying to figure out what they were seeing. My mom came in and ask me to come out for a look. We live in a suburban area. The sky was partly cloudy and dark. We saw at least one hundred, white lighted (with the naked eye) objects flying from East to West. They were spread out from North to South over a fairly large area. They were not in a line or evenly spaced. It appeared that some were blinking while others were a constant white light. The shape appears circular in nature, again to the naked eye. The objects were moving at a much faster speed than an airplane for example. We continued to watch for approximately 10 minutes and I returned outside 15 minutes later to try to get a video and there were still a few of them but the number had decreased greatly. My video turned out pink in color with only one object showing at the end.




Posted 2022-04-22

NUFORC UFO Sighting 166536
Occurred: 2022-01-31 18:50 Local
Reported: 2022-02-01 21:39 Pacific
Duration: 2min
No of observers: 3

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA
Location details: West Arkansas. On the boarder of Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Shape: Circle
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object

This object was traveling from the north to the south. It had no sound. Had a bright Halo around it. Seemed to be slowing down. Me my wife and a friend were out on our Backyard Deck when this object appeared. It traveled behind the trees to the south towards the woods at the end of our backyard.

Posted 2022-03-04

NUFORC UFO Sighting 154522
Occurred: 2020-03-25 06:20 Local
Reported: 2020-03-26 03:59 Pacific
Duration: 3 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object, Animals reacted

Stream of lights in a straight line moving South to North moving quickly. Too many to count. Covered a large amount of expanse in the sky. From looking online, it may have been a satellite link, but was quite exciting as I have never seen anything like it in my life.



Posted 2020-05-21

NUFORC UFO Sighting 175466
Occurred: 2020-03-05 20:42 Local
Reported: 2023-04-23 06:10 Pacific
Duration: Approx 1 hour
No of observers: 4

Location: Fort smith, AR, USA
Location details: Mercy Fort Smith hospital

Shape: Sphere
Explanation: Camera Anomaly - Possible
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object

Pulsating white orb and green orb

I was outside hospital when I seen whitish pulsating orb zigzagging in sky. About 45 minutes later I seen a green orb in a different location just below moon moving around.







Posted 2023-05-19

NUFORC UFO Sighting 142499
Occurred: 2018-07-31 18:00 Local
Reported: 2018-07-31 19:19 Pacific
Duration: 8-12 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Diamond
Characteristics: Lights on object, Changed Color, Animals reacted

In the directly Eastern Sky there were a cluster of red/orange orbs in various diamond/triangle formation. They would stay suspended in air. No movement. No change in formation. Then lights would disappear for a few moments and appear again estimated 50 to 100 yards more north or more south.



Posted 2018-08-10

NUFORC UFO Sighting 139753
Occurred: 2018-05-06 10:45 Local
Reported: 2018-05-07 16:17 Pacific
Duration: 10 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Formation
Characteristics: Lights on object

Lights(7) in a "V" formation was spotted in South Forth Smith, AR in low altitude while being completely silent.

Around 10:30 PM Sunday night, May 6th, 2018, a series of lights in the shape of a “V” appeared in the southern skies of Fort Smith, AR, heading in a North West/West direction. The “V” consisted of seven bulbous lights, bright copper yellow in appearance with the object itself flying in very low altitude. The craft or object was completely silent as it moved slowly in the sky. It was only visible for around 10 seconds before fading out into the nights sky North West/West. As far as the location of the craft or object, it was about South/South West of Zero St. heading towards Northern Oklahoma/Arkoma.

Posted 2018-05-10

NUFORC UFO Sighting 139516
Occurred: 2018-04-18 23:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2018-04-19 14:36 Pacific
Duration: Nightly
No of observers: 5

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Light


Nightly/ 1-10 lights/no pattern or shape/not aircraft or satellites/ short movements, and movements of several seconds

I see one (1) to ten (10) objects nightly/appearance of 'stars'/ small, no shape, no color/they move in short movements, back and forth in short distances, often in circular motions, then moving a straight line for one (1) to two (2) second intervals. The lights are not in formation, nor do they move relating to the others.

I'm 64, male, 'retired', with some education in aviation/familiar with aviation lights, aircraft, satellites, etc..






NUFORC Note:

We attempted to contact the witness via telephone, but the line was busy. We will continue trying to contact him, in order to seek more information about the sighting. PD


Posted 2018-04-26

NUFORC UFO Sighting 160309
Occurred: 2013-09-13 19:05 Local
Reported: 2020-10-30 09:50 Pacific
Duration: 3 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Other


Beehive shaped object seen above the Arkansas river

On September 13, 2013, I was in the car with my mother around 7:05 pm, when we were heading down the road towards our home. I happened to look up towards the sky through the passenger window of the car. I noticed a object in the sky which I believed was a falling meteorite at the time. I watched this meteorite for 3 minutes.

The object started in a downward path in the sky with a flame tail, which made me believe it was a falling meteorite. As it was heading down towards earth, it literally stop all movement in the sky and stood still for less than a minute. It was like the object was watching me watching it. The next thing I know, it shot up vertically and it was rotating. The object suddenly disappeared out of the sky.

When the object stood still in the sky, I was able to observe the shape of it as a large upside down beehive. The object was really smooth and shiny looking. The color of the object was like a peachy seashell color. The object was so large I could tell that it had a glassy metal exterior where it was possible that occupants could see through it but nobody from the outside could look in. When the object sped off vertically it looked like a spinning top.



Posted 2020-12-23

NUFORC UFO Sighting 101754
Occurred: 2013-08-30 04:30 Local
Reported: 2013-08-31 14:37 Pacific
Duration: 20 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Triangle
Characteristics: Lights on object, Left a trail

Clear night bright light that looked like a star but moved vertically and then horizontally with flashing lights rear.

I saw what to look like a very bright star next to a communications tower.

When I looked again it was not in the same location it had moved behind the tower.

I watch the light and it began to go vertical several hundred feet. I noticed a trail as it when up but no noise. I shined my hi-powered flashlight at this and could not detect any form, but notice the light would go dim and bright at times on this object.

After it went up several hundred feet it began to move west and it when right over me.

It looked like it was triangle in shape and had two blinking light on the rear one on the left side and one on the right side. I watched it move west for about 10 minutes.

As i was watching this I seen blinking lights to the left of this object and it looked to be the same kind of object following behind at an angle.

Posted 2013-09-09

NUFORC UFO Sighting 95239
Occurred: 2012-12-13 19:00 Local
Reported: 2012-12-14 06:30 Pacific
Duration: 2 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Orb
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

Seeing multiple round yellowish/whiteish colored orbs/ufo's in the night sky almost every night in Fort Smith, Arkansas

I am a seasoned photographer and for the past 8 months or so, I've been going outside into my backyard almost every night. I've been seeing some incredibly odd and wierd activity going on in the night sky since this past April of 2012. The main things I have been seeing are random stationary flashes of light in the night sky and white-colored lighted and sometimes orange-colored lighted round orbs/ufo's. The flashes of light seem to occur at random points in the sky and at random times. As for the white rounded lights and orange colored lights (orbs).. from the 6 to 7 months I've been watching/witnessing them, I've come to the theory that they are reacting/investigating commercial/civilian aircraft at night. My theory is that they are attracted to the strobe/beacon lights that aircraft must use during night time flights.. because whenever there is high air-traffic over the top of my house, that's when I tend to see them the most. The other thing that lea! ds me to believe that they're investigating and or are attracted to the lights from commercial/civilian/military aircraft is the fact that 90% of the time, when I see an airplane/helicopter approaching to fly over or close to flying over the top of my house.. 90% of the time I'll see one of these white-lighted orbs and the orb will suddenly appear (like someone turned on a light bulb from the switch) and will either intersect the paths of the airplanes or will follow the exact same flight path that the airplane/helicopter just flew.

Also, sometimes these white colored orbs will be very dim.. but sometimes will slowly start to get really bright (like someone using a dimmer switch on a light bulb to slowly turn up or down the brightness level of the bulb) and sometimes they'll stay really bright for a long time and then they'll start to slowly fade/dim back down to their original brightness level.. or sometimes they'll even dim all the way out to where you can't see them at all. Almost like someone turned off the light switch, per say. That's the best I know how to explain it.

I have quite a few of these things on video. I actually got the best video footage that I've ever gotten over the past 7 to 8 months.. just last night! I got video of a civilian airplane and one of these orbs passing each other. I also have video of these things showing how they go from almost invisible to incredibly bright and then dimming back down to either barely visibly or completely turned off.

These objects appear to definitely be round in shape and when I watch some of the videos I capture of these things, I can actually see colors that airplanes don't use and the colors almost seem to morph into each other before each color changes from one color to another color.

The best thing to do, in my opinion.. would be for me to send one of my videos to you, so that you can see exactly what I am seeing.

Now, of course, there are nights where I won't see any of these things.. which is generally the same nights where there is very little to no air traffic within the vicinity of my house, which is yet another reason why I think these things are attracted to the lights from airplanes/helicopters.

Posted 2012-12-20

NUFORC UFO Sighting 91586
Occurred: 2012-08-05 22:00 Local
Reported: 2012-08-07 23:49 Pacific
Duration: 1 minute
No of observers: 2

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Orb
Characteristics: Lights on object

Bright white round light ball, no Nav lights, no sound from the craft and not a meteor too clow for that.

Around 10:00 pm. I was looking through my telescope with my grandson. From the southern sky a bright white object moved to the northeast at a high rate of speed. I was just able to get in my 6" telescope for a 10 seconds.

The light was perfectly round about the size of a disco ball with a very bright light, and no Nav lights, just a white ball of light. No sound at all with this object, I thought it was a star but the object moved across the sky from south to Northeast out of view in a 1 minute or longer, not a meteor this slow and no trailing light. It took a good minute or so to cross the full sky. Most high altitude jets take two or three minutes to move overhead and out of view. I checked Satellite and ISS tracking and none of them have an orbit path from south to a northeast.



Posted 2012-08-19

NUFORC UFO Sighting 85014
Occurred: 2011-10-29 00:14 Local
Reported: 2011-10-30 21:29 Pacific
Duration: 15-30 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Oval
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object, Left a trail, Changed Color, Aircraft nearby, Landed

Two oval-like craft seen over Fort Smith, AR, by 2 teens.

My friend and I were walking around a school-yard talking when we looked up and saw one craft oval-shaped what appeared to come INTO our atmosphere and just stopped. After about 10-20 seconds another craft came in and moved into position next to the first craft.

Then they slowly moved as me and my friend sprinted into their direction not taking our eyes off the craft. The first craft light blinked then slowly descended, the second craft following the movements about 5-7 seconds later.

After that we lost track of them and just stood looking in that direction just confused.

10-15 minutes of discussion still steadily keeping track of the area we noticed a Chinook. It landed in about the same vicinity of where the two craft descended. We decided to keep watch by climbing on about 10ft posts. The Chinook ascended and ended up flying over where we were and that is when we were able to confirm it was a Chinook.

We got slightly uneasy about this and ran back to my friend's house to think about what we just saw and how we would describe it.

Posted 2011-12-12

NUFORC UFO Sighting 82201
Occurred: 2011-07-04 22:00 Local
Reported: 2011-07-05 06:04 Pacific
Duration: 3 min
No of observers: 2

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Fireball
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object

orange fireball

Myself and one other person were packing up after a firework show when we noticed an orange glowing orb in the distance. we joked it was an a firework that forgot to explode.

there was no sound and no flashing lights like i would expect on any kind of aircraft.

it was slowly moving horizontally north to south and appeared to almost stop after moving a good distance.

it seemed to hover for a few seconds and then began moving straight up very quickly and disappeared.

Posted 2011-07-06

NUFORC UFO Sighting 80114
Occurred: 2011-02-16 14:00 Local
Reported: 2011-02-18 16:03 Pacific
Duration: 1 minute
No of observers: 2

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Disk
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object

Man and his son witness object following high-altitude aircraft in the daytime sky.

I was in my front yard making a piece of furniture with my kids. One of my kids said look daddy. Then the other said what is that. So I looked up. That’s when I saw an aircraft with a bright light following over it. I say it was around 2pm or so. It was traveling north to south from the best that I could tell.

I did manage to take a picture before it got to far away. I’m not sure of how big the objects were because of how far they were away. I could see that one was an apparent aircraft because it had wings and a trail of vapor behind it like most commercial planes do.

The other object had no wings or any vapor trail .

The following is a copywrited photo of what i saw.

Posted 2011-02-18

NUFORC UFO Sighting 171636
Occurred: 2010-12-23 09:45 Local
Reported: 2022-09-07 21:23 Pacific
Duration: Around 20 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA
Location details: Residential Neighborhood

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object

1 craft in a square shape with blinking changing colors

My brother was standing outside talking on the phone when he noticed it originally. He came in got my brother to show me. What we seen was a square craft with blinking lights changing colors. 1 light on each corner and 1 light in the center. It would blink in a diagonal direction starting at the top left as red then go to the center and be blue then the bottom right and be yellow to the top right and be green to the center and be orange to the bottom left and turn blue. It continued to do this for around 15 minutes going from top left to bottom right and then from top right to bottom left. With the colors never being the same color in the same spot. For instance the top be blue one time then yellow the then red after that the orange then red. It would never be the color twice in row. Then at round 15 or 16 minutes the corner would only blink and center stayed dark. And again the colors would never be the same twice in a row. Then all lights start blinking again at round 18 minutes. Going diagonal again changing colors with each blink before it moved down then back up and then to the left and then down and down then back up and up the entire continuing to blink diagonally. Then it moved left further and further before the lights slowed down and stop blinking and it was gone.

Posted 2022-09-09

NUFORC UFO Sighting 74546
Occurred: 2010-03-05 03:00 Local
Reported: 2010-03-05 01:59 Pacific
Duration: 1 hour
No of observers: 0

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Other
Characteristics: Emitted other objects

I noticed what appeared to be a star and just watched it for a moment and then it began to have white lights randomly flash around it. I was only watching with the naked eye. It was fairly stationary and was still visible when I came in to report this. I saw it through a double paned window so I thought it might be a trick of my eye glasses and the window so I went outside and the same strange random lights flashed around it. As I write this I rechecked to see if it was still visible and the random lights continue and it is 3:55 AM.

Posted 2010-04-13

NUFORC UFO Sighting 67322
Occurred: 2008-12-01 00:15 Local
Reported: 2008-12-05 10:39 Pacific
Duration: <3 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object

Bright white light moved from SE horizon to WNW horizon in roughly 2-3 seconds.

The sighting was very quick. I was standing in my yard watching the event with Jupiter, Venus, and the moon when from the SE horizon came a bright white light as bright as the north star. It moved all the way from the edge of my view of the horizon, overhead, then to the WNW horizon edge. It looked like a shooting star, but had little-to-no tail. No sound was heard, and for an hour afterwords there were no other sightings of anything unusual.

Posted 2009-01-10

NUFORC UFO Sighting 168745
Occurred: 2007-08-10 18:30 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2022-06-21 20:45 Pacific
Duration: over 2 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA
Location details: Floating over State Line and Wheeler Ave, saw from Phoenix and Towsend Ave.

Shape: Unknown


A black and grey, oval type craft, SUV sized, it had tubes and what appeared to be antennae sticking out of the top and bottom.

I didn't initially see the craft. My girlfriend, saw it first from the passenger’s seat, looking through my window, the driver’s window. She said, "What's that?" I looked once and saw a black helicopter and told her, "Ah, it’s just a helicopter" and then she said, "That's no helicopter." I looked again and there it was...

Of course, I went through all the possible explanations in my mind to explain it, such as; a giant balloon, a drone, a blimp, etc.... I pulled over (right in front of the old Phoenix Village Mall) and we looked at it for maybe a few (2) minutes. It didn't move, it didn't do anything. I eventually felt unsafe and we drove on home.

The UFO was mostly black, at first glance. Looking closer it looked like it was made of junk! Metallic, but like it had been put together in a scrap yard.. There were also black tubes sticking out of the top and bottom along with what looked like old timey (1940's) TV antennae, sticking out of the top and bottom as well,. It was very sinister and strange looking...it was pieced together by spare parts, not human at all.. it made no noise, it was just floating there.. We left it, it was still floating, I didn't look back...

I later (the next day) went to my brother's house, and he told me he had heard people reporting black UFO's all over town on his police scanner.
It was never on the news, or in the paper and I have not seen any reports of this event.

Maybe someone else in the area who saw this, will also report in the future after reading this. I know there were others.

Posted 2022-06-22

NUFORC UFO Sighting 55345
Occurred: 2007-02-18 17:00 Local
Reported: 2007-02-18 18:20 Pacific
Duration: 45 min.
No of observers: 3

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

white disk light over fort smith arkansas appeared in nw moved very slowly to the ne then suddenly disapperared

first appeared in the nw was headed ne very slowly.it was like a ball of light that had a disk shape to it.the sun was still up at the time it appeared.at first you could not see it with your naked eye.when it started getting darker outside then you could see it with your eyes.then it just disappeared at about 18:02 pm.cst.



Posted 2007-02-24

NUFORC UFO Sighting 50616
Occurred: 2006-05-18 22:00 Local
Reported: 2006-05-19 07:14 Pacific
Duration: 20 minutes
No of observers: 3

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Circle
Characteristics: Lights on object

Orange lights seen from southern Fort Smith. Fort Chaffee military flares or UFOs ?

I was sitting on my fathers truck last night when I noticed a circular orange light flashing for approx 4 seconds and then dissapearing and reappearing in the sky. I called for my sister and her friend to come look. The light continued to do this for about 5 minutes, dissapearing and then reappearing. I can't give an approx measurement or altitude, but the lights were rather bright compared to that of a normal star and the altitude seemed low for military aircraft. Although I do not know much of military aircrafts and dropping flares at night, there was no sound or smoke. I live pretty close to Fort Chaffee, so I assummed that if they were flares, then we could of heard the planes or seen the smoke, but I didn't rule that possibility out. After the lights faded, my sister and I sat outside and they finally appeared in the same area about 10 minutes later. The lights began to do exactly what they did before, but this time there was only 1 of them. It disseapered for only a few seconds and repeared much higher than it was before, and then suddenly about 5 or 6 appeared at once around that orange light. These did not move and remained in one place for only 4 seconds. Then one by one, starting from the end, they dissappeared. Because they appeared in a straight line, I began to think they might have been flares. I am not totally convinced that what we saw was an alien aircraft, but we heard/saw no planes nearby. The only reason why I am considering this may have been a ufo is because as far as I know, as long as gravity exists, flares do not hover in the sky instead of falling down as they disappeared. The disappearence seemed dramatic instead of random flares being dropped at once and disseapearing altogether and the same time. I don't know if anyone else saw this and I don't know what to think of it. My sister and her friend are convinced that aliens are here in Arkansas to invade... and as convincing as these theories may be, I still remain a bit skeptical on ufo sightings.



Posted 2006-07-16

NUFORC UFO Sighting 45581
Occurred: 2005-08-12 04:25 Local
Reported: 2005-08-12 03:04 Pacific
Duration: 30 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Oval
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object

Oval lighted object made no noise as it rapidly flew overhead in sky.

On Friday, August 12 2005 around 4:25 AM I stepped outside for a smoke, and I looked overhead to see if I could catch any of the meteor shower. It was too cloudy, but I spotted a single oval object moving rapidly across the sky. It was heading toward the north side of town, and it had lights on the underside. It seemed almost to be shiny or have a haze or glow to the sides, but I can't be sure. It could have been a trick of the lights on the object. It did not look like any aircraft I had seen before, and I heard no noise at all. The object seemed to maintain its speed while overhead, though as I was losing sight of it the object seemed to slow some. This however could have been due to my perspective and line of sight.



Posted 2005-09-02

NUFORC UFO Sighting 43663
Occurred: 2005-04-26 22:30 Local
Reported: 2005-04-26 21:31 Pacific
Duration: 30 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Disk
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object, Aircraft nearby

6 circular objects seen over Ft. Smith @ 22:30 on April 26, 2005. Lights rotated in circular pattern, with 1 center light. No sound.

3 circular Objects were seen 5 miles east of Mulberry, AR. over the Arkansas River going west @ 22:15pm having no sound. At the I-540 bridge which connects Crawford & Sebastian counties, my sister saw 6 circular objects, they split into pairs, 2 went west 2 went north, 2 went south. When she got to work, one was just to the south-east of her & hovering somewhere near the airport.

The lights blinked in a clockwise motion, then went out except for one in the center, that looked like a star, but she could still make out a shape,because they only appeared to be about 2000 ft. high. Then suddenly a national guard jet took off from the airport, and search lights came on around the airport. & the lights disappeared.



NUFORC Note:

Given the description of the objects, and the duration of the event, we suspect that the lights may have been part of an advertising light complex. PD


Posted 2005-05-11

NUFORC UFO Sighting 41962
Occurred: 2005-02-14 09:30 Local
Reported: 2005-02-15 10:52 Pacific
Duration: thirty minutes
No of observers: 9

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Lights on object, Changed Color, Electrical or magnetic effects

it was like nothing of earth and it scared me ((witless))

the object just appeared quickly and moved closer and closer it moved very quickly and made very loud sounds the witnesses called 911 and the police arrived shortly before the object dissapeared

Posted 2005-02-22

NUFORC UFO Sighting 41791
Occurred: 2005-02-05 05:10 Local
Reported: 2005-02-05 19:45 Pacific
Duration: 10 min
No of observers: 1

Location: Fort Smith, CA, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object, Left a trail

Saw a strange thing in the early morning sky Saturday morning February 5, 2005. It looked like a comet southeast of Fort Smith over Fort Chaffee headed southeast. At firstI thought it was a flare and then a plane coming in and then the moon shinning through a hole in the clouds since the sky was cloudy and no stars were shinning.I waited and no plane ever came in. It had a light on the head of it and a tail that looked just like a comet. It finally just faded away and disapeared. NO noise, it was to far away probably 2-3 miles, but it had to be really big.This is the second strange thing I have seen in the sky in my life. P.S. I do not believe in UFOs never have and never will, but I do enjoy reading this site for entertainment. I think it's funny. Anyway I thought I would report it. Maybe someone else saw this and knows what it was.If so please post I would like to know what it was.



NUFORC Note:

If the object had a "tail," it could not have been the planet, Venus. Also, if the time duration estimate is correct, it almost certainly would not have been a contrail behind a high-altitude jet, we believe. PD


Posted 2005-02-08

NUFORC UFO Sighting 43245
Occurred: 2004-11-25 09:30 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2005-03-30 15:50 Pacific
Duration: about 2 minutes
No of observers: 5

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Circle
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object, Emitted beams

There were spinning lights and all of a sudden they just dissappered...wow.

We were on our way home from a junior high football game. It was around 9:30 pm.

We were by the river bottoms when one of us pointed out the window and started squealing. We pulled over, rollied down the windows, and just watched it.

It was fairly close to the ground and it was circular shaped. There were lights along the edges all around it. It wasn't spinning horazontally and not vertically, but kinda slanted. Then all of a sudden, one by one the lights started going out and the craft was gone.

So we rolled up our windows and kept driving. As we drove we kept looking for it but it never reappeared. The next day, our driver was at work and people at her work also said that they saw the strange craft.

Pretty weird huh?



NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that the date of the event is approximate. PD


Posted 2005-05-24

NUFORC UFO Sighting 39173
Occurred: 2004-09-07 21:15 Local
Reported: 2004-09-07 23:56 Pacific
Duration: 2 Minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Triangle
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object, Changed Colo

Strange Very Large Trianglar Craft Floating Across the Late Evening Sky Over Fort Smith, Arkansas 09/07/04

I was standing on the porch of our home, we live at the top of a hill in the city, the event was just a few moments after dark..the sky was very clear this night. I heard a low humming sound very soft at first then it was a low rummbling sound and as I looked in the direction and this huge ship or craft was approached right straight across my view to the right on us. This thing was very slow and it was very low as well about 4 hundred feet or a little more as far as I could tell by my estimation. This ship or vessel was shaped in a triangle and it's lights were glowing from underneath it an those lights seemed to alternated in a pattern as it passed over me. I grabbed my flashlight an shinned it up at the thing as I watched it going slowly over our area of town, someone else had to see this thing I would supposebut it was so quiet man.. it seems to take forever to go over the area..I was just in shock to see it I guess..under the circustances..guess I was kinda stunned just to see this ship..so low. I called loudly to my mom in the next room after a few moments and when this thing came over us you could only hear the light rumbleing or humm or something, you know not like normal engine propulsion. All I know is it was very big and slow. I then grabbed my flashlight and ran off the porch to the street corner to get a better look as it left our area then after it reached the edge of town or my view the thing just to off out of my range of night site. This ship or whatever this was..like I said was two or three minutes seemed like I had view or watched the vessel, it seemed like forever to me at the time. What was so shocking about the thing was it was not a loud humm or just very little noise. my mom heard it too and we have also seen various other sitings as well in our area in the last few months, but this thing was huge.. my God what or who was flying this ship and where are they from..is it the military or what? is, well you want my oppinion? it is not the government in my view, but I don't know what this ship was, all I know it was the strangest thing I ever saw in my life...I just know this "if I had not been wondering what the low humm was or had not looked up at just the moment I did, I would have never seen the thing at all I believe.



Posted 2004-09-09

NUFORC UFO Sighting 36140
Occurred: 2004-04-07 22:00 Local
Reported: 2004-04-10 05:20 Pacific
Duration: 26 minutes
No of observers: 8

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Changing


My brother ((name deleted)) whom is retired Air Force, thought he was showing me the north star, I went and got some binoculars and that is when we saw the circular light pattern. He went in and got his digital movie camera with a 72 zoom we could see so much more. It was not a star or a plane, we captured it on video for over 20 minutes. I find it hard to describe and is best for anyone to see the tape. Then the next night we thought we would look in the same area, it wasn't quite dark but stars could be seen and there is was again right between the big dipper and the little dipper this time it let us see so much more, it changes shape from a dot to a huge ball, multicolored with greens, reds, blues and greys. This night it also change to a hour glass shaping with red (flame looking) all around it.My brothers camera allowed us to do a 360 zoom and what we saw was quite a show. You must see this video we have over 36 minutes on the second evening. Last night it stormed here so we saw nothing. In all my years I have never seen anything like this, years ago in Racheal Nevada I met a man by the name of Bob Lazar and thought he had some unusuall stories but this is caught on tape. Please call us, see this video 479-((telephone number deleted))

Thank You, ((name #1 deleted)) ((name #2 deleted))



NUFORC Note:

We believe that celestial bodies would have to be ruled out, before we could conclude that the witness captured genuine UFO's on tape. We will request a copy of the tape, or excerpts. PD


Posted 2004-04-27

NUFORC UFO Sighting 32627
Occurred: 2003-10-24 02:29 Local
Reported: 2003-10-24 00:37 Pacific
Duration: for an hour now
No of observers: 1

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

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

quivering flashing object high and distant in the Northeast sky

In the sky northeast of Fort Smith a long distance I am seeing a bright light high in the sky. At first I thought it was a star, but then I noticed it appears to be moving slightly from side to side. I got my binoculars and could see it is flashing with a red light being emitted. It appears to be dragging something, though I really can't see the shape. It is not round like a star and it quivers. I generally do not believe in UFO's, but this thing sure doesn't look or act like a star.



NUFORC Note:

We suspect a twinkling star may have been the cause of the sighting. PD


Posted 2003-10-31

NUFORC UFO Sighting 31759
Occurred: 2003-09-22 21:30 Local
Reported: 2003-09-23 12:14 Pacific
Duration: 15 minutes
No of observers: 3

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Formation
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

a formation of five strange lights

My husband and I were driving out of Van Buren and into Ft smith when he pulled the van to a instant halt. He kept saying "Oh my God!", "Oh my God!". I asked what it was, and he said "I see lights" He pulled over in a local elementary school parking lot and that is when I saw them too. They were 5 lights that would illuminate brightly then fade out, then they pulled into a formation. We kept looking at this for a few minutes,then we decided we had to have a closer look. We drove down Hwy. 59 to get a better view, and all the while keeping our eyes on the lights. Soon, we noticed that a couple of helicopters from ft. chaffee took off in pursuit. They seemed to be going around in circles, as if they were looking for something. Then what my husband identified as F-16 fighters took off next. They were chasing the lights in the sky. It was rather comical to watch because it seemed like a game of cat and mouse, but the strange lights were too fast to catch. We pulled into the lock and dam to watch this spectacle for a while, and soon there were no more strange lights in the sky. The duration lasted for about an hour at that time. When we returned home, my neighbor asked me if we had seen any strange lights, and of course we had. Also, this morning on the radio on a dallas station, a caller had called in reporting what he had seen. Apparently it was seen by a lot of people.



NUFORC Note:

We will seek other witnesses to this alleged event. PD


Posted 2003-09-24

NUFORC UFO Sighting 31102
Occurred: 2003-08-28 21:04 Local
Reported: 2003-09-01 13:29 Pacific
Duration: 20 seconds
No of observers: 2

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

Bright Orange Lights with Rapid-Shift Right to Left

One hour after sundown, no craft were visible. First saw three bright orange lights above neighbor's house. Distance appeared to be approximately 2 miles. Altitude was approximately 500 feet above ground. After 6 or 7 seconds, pattern of three lights 'jumped' to viewer's left, approximately 100 feet. After approximately 3 more seconds, these lights extinguished simultaneously with a new series of lights approximately 500 feet to the right, and approximately 200 feet higher than first observation. The first of these lights appeared to be a single light, then jumped to viewer's left and down, becoming two lights, then jumped left and down again, becoming three lights. Elapsed time of second series was approximately 6 to 7 seconds. As each new set of lights became visible, the previous light extinguished almost as if by toggling a light switch.

Approximately 23 minutes later, a new series of three orange lights was seen in identical location to initial sighting. Except these lights were at a slant from 7 o'clock to 1 o'clock, whereas the original lights were all oriented horizontally. The new slanted light pattern seemed to be banking right to left, and disappeared after approximately 6-7 seconds. No craft was ever observed or heard, only the very bright orange lights, which appeared to shift position at split-second speed.



Posted 2003-09-04

NUFORC UFO Sighting 31171
Occurred: 2003-08-26 00:00 Local
Reported: 2003-09-03 01:25 Pacific
Duration: 30 seconds
No of observers: 0

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Oval
Characteristics: Lights on object

I was coming home from work around 12:00 pm Tuesday August 26, 2003. When I saw 3 round lights in the sky. Within another second or so later I saw 30 lights in row forming a half circle. The light was pretty big, it looks like it's about 4 or 5 feet in diameter. The light was an orange bronze color. You could see it clearly, but it wasn't bright. I thought it was an airplane flying very low, but I was wrong. As I got closer to the light I could see the circle shape spinning counter clock wise while the lights are taking turn diming in sequence. The object was facing down at about a 30 degrees angle. The flying object looks like it's about the size of a Wal-mart supercenter. That night while I was driving, I got my windows down to enjoy the nice cool weather. As I saw the object with my eyes, I tried to listen if the object have any sound, but I didn't hear anything from it. It was just hoovering in the sky. I was going to follow it, but it disapper as fast as it appeared. The whole incident lasted for about 30 or 40 seconds. The sight where I saw it is normally busy with traffic during the day, but at night, it's really dead. I was the only car out there when I saw the object. I never seen anything like it in my life, and it's still kind of hard to believe what I saw.



Posted 2003-09-04

NUFORC UFO Sighting 29529
Occurred: 2003-07-03 23:07 Local
Reported: 2003-07-03 21:32 Pacific
Duration: three to five minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Triangle
Characteristics: Lights on object, Emitted beams

triangular shape and fireball in Arkansas

My husband and I were staring up at the night sky looking for fireworks displays, but as we were scanning the sky we happened to look up even farther than the displays of fireworks and into the stars. We happened to notice something unusual at the same time. Traveling towards the southwest was what appeared to be a trianglular pattern of lights headed much more speedily than any airplane in our atmosphere. It had white lights on each panel but red lights illuminating between each panel, but not blinking. It was unlike anything we had ever witnessed before. But astoundingly we also saw it shoot a fireball from behind it as it trailed off towards the southwest. I have never been so excited to see something in my life.



NUFORC Note:

We suspect the witnesses may have observed the triplet of satellites, thought to be part of the U. S. Navy's "NOSS" satellite program. PD


Posted 2003-07-16

NUFORC UFO Sighting 27306
Occurred: 2003-01-24 18:15 Local
Reported: 2003-01-26 10:32 Pacific
Duration: about 1 minute
No of observers: 5

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Circle
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object

Red light in sky.

My parents and brothers fiance was fixing to leave to go get some Ice Cream. When they left about 0 seconds later they rang the door bell many times. I opened the door and it was my mom saying get out side quick.

I ran out and my mom said look at the light. It was a red circle in the sky that was not to high but not to low and it was jerk side to side vertical an horizontally. It was not jerking to fast and it would not move to far when it did jerk. About 50 seconds later, it did what i think was a qucik u turn and took off as if something was moving to get away as if it had somewhere to go. It was very fast. My parents drove one way and me and my girlfriend drove the other way to see if we couldnt see what it was, it whent in the opposite direction of the airport. Then after that we seen about 7 airplanes flying around in the sky,

Ft.smith airport aint busy, and never had that many airplanes around at once.

Posted 2003-03-21

NUFORC UFO Sighting 39367
Occurred: 2001-09-17 21:00 Local
Reported: 2004-09-19 18:55 Pacific
Duration: 15 minute
No of observers: 3

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Left a trail

Bright Light with Tail in Ft Smith Night Sky

We were driving west on I-40 to Oklahoma. The moon was almost setting. My son pointed out a bright light in the sky. It looked like an airplane at first; a very bright one. Then we saw an airplane pass under; two very different things. I thought it might be a satellite burning out through the atmosphere. It had a tail with a bright end. It sloped up from bottom left to top right. As dusk came closer, the tail continued to grow. It kept the same position in the sky; left and right, that is. The tail then split into two distinct trails. The only way to attempt to describe the length was if you extend your arm all the way; the tail was about one inch long; way up in the sky. Other cars were watching the same thing. We could see them looking up, too. As night fell, it disappeared. I am not into UFOs or anything. This was either a rocket going up, a satellite burning through, or an UFO.

Posted 2004-09-29

NUFORC UFO Sighting 15655
Occurred: 2000-11-15 21:00 Local
Reported: 2000-12-28 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 30 seconds
No of observers: 2

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Triangle
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

5 orange lights shaped in a HUGE triangle/v shape about 2000 ft high

Well, it was my sister and her husband who said they saw it and they usually dont believe in ufo's. They told me it had five orange colored lights. And each light took turns turning on and off i think she said. She said it was about 2000 ft high and about a half mile wide. She said it took off really fast in a blink of an eye.

Posted 2001-01-03

NUFORC UFO Sighting 12292
Occurred: 2000-03-09 17:05 Local
Reported: 2000-03-09 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 35 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Oval
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

A silvery oval-shaped object was seen shadowing two jetliners, suddenly changing directions, and flying in other parts of the sky south of Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Looking towards the horizon to the south-southwest, an oval, silvery object was seen by both of us as we walked along the sidewalk. The object was flying parallel to a jetliner in a southerly direction for a few minutes, then abruptly turned west and disappeared. About five minutes later the object was again seen in the same general area of the southern sky, flying by itself towards the south. The object then shadowed a jetliner that was flying from the east to the southwest, at first keeping a parallel path and then slowly veering west until it disappeared entirely.

Posted 2000-03-16

NUFORC UFO Sighting 10489
Occurred: 1999-11-09 05:13 Local
Reported: 1999-11-09 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 5 to 7 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

At 5:oo P.M. Me and my husband were eating at Burger King, we left to go home and he was mentioning the contrails in the sky, and how they were not normal contrails. So we proceeded home, and there was a jet, you could see plain as day, thats what it was, he was expaining how those were contrails, anyway as we were looking at the jet there was a steady light,the jet seemed to be going straight towards it, it seemed to be still, to me but my husband thought it may have been moving slowly, I couldnt really say for sure, the jet went above the object. This thing was almost glowing, it could not have been a reflection because the jet was in the same spot at this point only higher, and there was not glow to the jet, then as I made a right turn, it put the two behind us, I was driving so I wasnt looking back, then my husband said oh my God it just vanished the jet was still heading the same way, but it was gone.

Posted 1999-11-17

NUFORC UFO Sighting 8750
Occurred: 1999-08-20 05:45 Local - Approximate
Reported: 1999-08-20 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 15 min.
No of observers: 3

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Circle


Three balls of white light "dancing" and then disappearing and then reappearing.

The three round ball of light were white and just moved about like they were doing a snake dance. These lights were not ball lighting nor seem to be a "disk" or anything like that.As the sun was about to come up...they faded and could not be seen. I heard these were seen last week also in the Greenwood, Arkansas area...very same thing and only the three ball of light.

Posted 1999-08-30

NUFORC UFO Sighting 5143
Occurred: 1998-12-13 20:45 Local
Reported: 1998-12-15 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 2min
No of observers: 2

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

First off I just want to say I have no idea what is going on in Ft smith Ark Also I just want to say I was not going to report this at all because I can not believe that within the last week I have seen 2 objects to which I have no explanation for.my wife saw this one also so i will let her explain. I guess I can buy the fact that there are U.F.O. sightings out there, I just have to see things to where I know for a fact there is no explaining it away, Randy called me outside, and I took the binoculars from him, and I could see a object, well all I could really see was a light, very bright, so much so you couldnt tell a shape to it because of it, the glow the light gave off made it appear to be round, at least the glow was round, steady light, then I kept looking at it, and its glow was deminishing while I looked, it got fainter and fainter until there was nothing, then what looked like two jets or helicopters, followed in the same direction, the object made no noise, the things that followed could be heard.This is what I also saw too.There is no way this could have been a meteor it was going to slow Since I got this new telescope i have only been out two nights and both nights i have seen things that can not be explained at all.

Posted 1999-01-28

NUFORC UFO Sighting 5044
Occurred: 1998-12-08 06:30 Local
Reported: 1998-12-08 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 5min
No of observers: 1

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Triangle
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

I own a Telescope as of a few days ago, tonight was the first night it was clear since I bought it, anyway I as I looked off to the north I saw two very bright Gold lights, they seemed to be hoovering in the sky, I looked at them for a moment and thought to myself, that is very strange. Because I knew they were not suposed to be there.So I figured they were just planes and went back to star gazing. A minute later, I would guess,I looked over the house and saw one of the objects coming over the house, at a slow rate of speed. I had my telescope fixed on the Pleiades, I noticed the object was passing across the path of the Pleiades. Then I grabbed my 10x50 binoculars to get a better look at the object, once I got them up to my eyes I saw that there were three bright gold colored lights with one red slow flashing light in the center. As it continued moving slowly from the northeast to the southwest with the binoculrs I could clearly see it was triangular in shape,there were no stars visible through the objet.I took the binoculars away from my eyes again and I saw going in the same direction three other objects, only these I could distinctly tell were either planes or jets. Then I looked back in the direction of the triangular object and it was not to be seen anywhere. I have no idea what happened to it, it was just gone. I have never saw anything like this, I see planes and jets everyday and this was not what I witnessed tonight. As for the second object I mentioned I never saw it again, it never came over the house like the other, it must have took off in a different direction.All I can say is that what ever it was gave me a strange feeling and it was not a Airplane or a jet.

Posted 1999-01-28

NUFORC UFO Sighting 3518
Occurred: 1998-05-02 01:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 1998-05-04 00:00 Pacific
Duration: quick
No of observers: 4

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Disk
Characteristics: Lights on object, Left a trail, Emitted beams, Electrical or magnetic effects

It flew above us, shined its lights upon us. I don't remember what happened next. I woke up about 15 minutes later, I think. We were abducted by them. They left a scar on my chest.

I saw no aliens. I remember being shined by a light, and then waking up later. i think they did tests on us.

Posted 1999-01-28

NUFORC UFO Sighting 88092
Occurred: 1997-06-30 21:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2012-03-28 10:12 Pacific
Duration: Hours for several nights
No of observers: 0

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object

One colored, dimming, stationary light source, larger than stars seen at night SW of Fort Smith, Arkansas, 1996-1997.

Between a 40 to 70 degree angle in the SW sky I saw a round focused source of light brighter or larger than stars. It stayed stationary but the remarkable feature was how it dimmed and brightened like it was controlled by a dimmer dial. I don't remember its color but it was perhaps orange, red or yellow rather than white or metallic/reflective. I have seen this dimming light source on a few different nights and have used binoculars at least one. The date of the first sighting I can only recall roughly: 1996-1997. The time was after dark/evening, but probably not after midnight.

On the same night or at least same week of the first sighting I called and reported this sighting to a local Astronomy instructor/club leader and to a TV station's meteorologist.

I don't have any formal Astronomy, Optical or observational training.




NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate. PD


Posted 2012-04-18

NUFORC UFO Sighting 1177
Occurred: 1996-01-03 18:15 Local
Reported: 1996-01-14 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 1 minute


Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape:


Caller was taking out trash, when he observed three greenish-yellow balls of light that dipped down out of the clouds. They hovered for approximately 1 minute, then they went back up into the clouds.

He telephoned the local police, the local airport, and the local television station(s). There had been several other observers to the phenomenon.

Posted 1999-11-02

NUFORC UFO Sighting 178534
Occurred: 1974-11-08 19:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2023-10-04 20:35 Pacific
Duration: Several minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Fort smith, AR, USA
Location details: 1.5 miles west of airport

Shape: Triangle
Characteristics: Lights on object

Very large delta shape with intermittent lights on the leading edge low with no sound

We were in the back yard when my friend drew my attention to this large delta shape craft with lights that flew slowly over our neighborhood . I couldn’t estimate how high it was but it was larger than any aircraft either one of us had ever seen and we saw lots of aircraft as we lived in the flight path of local airport . It had lights spaced out on the leading edge and was completely silent . It drifted over us from south to north

Posted 2023-10-28

NUFORC UFO Sighting 46903
Occurred: 1967-08-05 21:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2005-10-10 22:20 Pacific
Duration: Multiple events over 3-4
No of observers: 500

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Chevron
Characteristics: Changed Colo

Sixties mass sighiting in Fort Smith recounted by military pilot witness.

This refers to the sighting mentioned earlier in this site over Fort Smith, AR in the Summer of 1966 or 1967. I believe the date to be August rather than July, but otherwise the same event.

I was 11 or 12 years old at the time. I am a retired USAF fighter pilot, so this event has always been a memorable event. I remember the accounts at the time of the three lights, although that is not what I and my parents saw that evening.

A relative called about 2100 all excited about the UFOs that were "about to land out near the airport" (where else?). What the previous writer failed to mention was the significance of the Coca-Cola bottling plant locaton. The Coke plant was within a half mile of the Fort Smith Municiple Airport.

Fort Smith is quite hilly with tall trees. The area around the airport provides the largest view of the sky, Therefore was the area where people congregated to see the sights that evening. Local AM radio station KFSA (there were'nt any FM stations in town yet) had set up a mobile broadcast near the airport to provide a live account of the sightings. As I remember, the first name of the on-air personality was Bill. The station normally ended its daily broadcast at midnight, but stayed on well past midnight for this event. A sizeable crowd gathered there and could be heard in the background on the radio.

My parents and I stepped out into our back yard to take a look at about 2100. We saw only a yellow/orange/white single light moving slowly along the southern sky on a westerly heading. It was moving slowly; about normal final approach speed for aircraft of the day. There was no sound. The radio reporter and people near him were watching the same object. Surprisingly, the object began to accelerate until it was going so fast, I lost it in the trees. This would certainly have been impressive accerlation for any aircraft of the day, or today. Yet I heard nothing like afterburners or any jet noise. My dad went to bed, but my mom and I stayed up to watch and listen to the radio.

It was an extremely clear moonless night. For quite a while nothing happened. The radio reporter was running out of much to say when suddenly at about 0100 the crowd that could be heard on the radio became excited. The reporter stopped mid-sentence to look then said, "Yes, out of the northwest..."

We looked and there was the most fascinating sighting. An object of very distinct shape was traversing the sky on a southeasterly heading at what, even today after all my military flying, I would say was very high altitude and very fast. The shape was razor sharp and clear; a V or boomerang shape. There was no sound and no visible contrail. As an 11-year old, I had chills. It was a little scary at that age.

Interestingly, the object slowed as it neared the southeastern horizon (the direction of the airport from our house), turned west and appeared as the earlier orange slow moving light. Nothing more was seen by us that night or following nights. Local newspaper articles recounted the event the next day. They reported contacting Little Rock AFB about the sighting. They reported no activity in the area.

So, what was it? In all my military flying from 1977 until 1997, I never saw anything like this; nothing not easily explained. So, the memory of this childhood sighting, witnessed by hundreds, has been a mystery.

I have three theories. At the time, Little Rock AFB had a wing of B-58 Hustler strategic bombers. The B-58 was a supersonic delta wing bomber that was one of the first to be built with new structural technologies and materials. The skin of the aircraft when supersonic (certainly the leading edge of the wing) would become extremely hot. I suspect that the 1am object might have been a B-58 on a high altitude night supersonic dash over the city. What we saw was the glowing hot leading edge of the wing.

Another possiblity with regards to military aircraft of the day that this might have been is the XB-70 high altitude experimental supersonic bomber. Only two were built and tested. One was certainly still flying at the time, although one crashed near this time. The XB-70 was also a delta wing, but much bigger and faster than the B-58. Certainly, it could have been this aircraft in a high altitude dash which heated the leading edge of the wing creating the very visible V shape.

Finally, the SR-71 Blackbird (or early variant) was flying by this time and could have done this.

Where was the sound? Too high to be heard. Sonic booms and jet noise dissapate from high altitude (over FL350) before reaching the ground...or so I have theorized. I suspect that there are USAF records (flight logs, training records, maintenance records, etc) available to the public regarding these three aircraft that could be researched to see if my theory is correct that this sighting was one of these historic aircraft...stirring up a lot of Arkansans...and one boy's dream of flight.





((ADDENDUM FROM WITNESS, DATED OCTOBER 21, 2005 @ 12:31 HRS.))

Results of research on Ft. Smith chevron sighting.

This is a follow-up to my recent post here regarding the specific chevron-shaped object. I have since done some research that would dispel two of my theories.

I contacted a retired B-58 crew member who confirmed that the leading edge of the wing did not glow when supersonic.

I have also researched the possiblity of the XB-70. The Final Report on the the XB-70 program published in 1972 lists every flight of each of the giant delta wing aircraft. A/V-2 had already crashed by the time of this sighting. A/V-1 was flying.

I have been unable to determine if the XB-70 did any night flying, or flying significantly away from Edwards AFB, CA. From reading the chief test pilot's summary, I would highly doubt that this aircraft did either. It was a very complex aircraft, often having malfunctions requiring unique support. To intentionally stray from its support base would be doubtful.

Also, it was a very crudely equipped and instrumented aircraft in its experimental form. Its single TACAN worked poorly, requiring the crew to rely heavily on FAA ATC for help with navigation.

There is one long-shot date of possibility. The aircraft flew on 8/24/67 for over two hours, reached over Mach 2, and an altitude of 58,000 feet. If the actual sighting that I witnessed occured on this date, it would be an interesting coincidence.

So, I believe that leaves this sighting on mysterious footing. Other possible aircraft of the day are the CIA A-12 Blackbird and its followers, the YF-12 and SR-71. That will take more research and will probably be more difficult to find records in the public domain.




NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that the date of the sighting event is approximate. PD


Posted 2005-10-11

NUFORC UFO Sighting 54327
Occurred: 1967-08-05 21:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2007-01-02 18:22 Pacific
Duration: 3 - 4 hours
No of observers: 0

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Teardrop
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object

Unidentified objects witnessed by hundreds over Fort Smith Arkansas

It was just after dusk on an August evening in 1967. The A.M. station that my sister and I listened to began to report lights in the skies over Fort Smith. Of course I immediately ran out into the yard to see for myself. Huge oak trees largely blocked the view and after a few minutes of surveying the patches of sky overhead I gave up. The reports continued to pour in and the disc jockey was at a fever pitch. I summoned my dad who listened for while, then I remember him laughing and saying that the station was playing a joke. At some point he began to take the reports somewhat seriously and we climbed into his ’46 Plymouth and drove to a remote area known as Wild Cat Mountain Lake. It was wide open and afforded as much of a horizon-to-horizon view as anywhere in the Fort Smith area. We sat on the hood for a long time until I bored and climbed back in the car. Almost immediately I heard my dad shout something and scampering back out found him pointing at two white lights moving slowly across the sky from east to west. They weren’t very bright and if they had not have been moving, would have easily blended in with the stars. They were traveling side by side, about two fingers apart at arm’s length. When they were almost directly overhead they suddenly made opposite 90-degree turns and quickly accelerated out of sight. Shortly after, a solitary light, much brighter, tracked across the sky at a tremendous rate of speed. It took probably less than 15 seconds to traverse the sky from the east to the west horizon. We sped back home to find several of our neighbors in lawn chairs – in the street! The next three to four hours we watched an amazing display. As time went on the lights came in at lower altitudes and glowed the spectrum from white to orange, with the intensity (brightness) increasing as they became more orange. As I recall, they would glow brightest when hovering. At their closest and brightest, they were perhaps one-third the size of a full moon. I can’t estimate the! altitud e, but at one point I did contemplate fetching my BB gun and taking a pot shot. So, bad idea aside they did come in very low. They would fly in formations of two or three, stop suddenly, hover, make impossible turns, and accelerate out of sight in seconds. It was almost as though it were choreographed for the benefit of the crowd below. At one point when a single object hovered directly overhead, I was able to observe it at length through a powerful pair of binoculars offered by a neighbor. It was more or less triangular shaped, not sharply, but more like a guitar pick. I’ve heard descriptions of spheres and chevrons being seen that night, but that was not what I was looking at. If those other accounts are accurate then there was either more than one type of object or the shape was not static. This thing appeared to glow from within, like an old Christmas tree light bulb and there was some sort of structure resembling a grid or a checkerboard on the underside. At least one television station and a radio station were broadcasting live from the parking lot of the Coca-Cola bottling plant, less than a mile west of the Fort Smith airport which shares a common runway with the 188th Fighter Wing, known at the time as the 188th Tactical Reconnaissance Group. Both the airport and the air guard are in virtual line of sight of the parking lot and it was thought curious that no jets were scrambled during that evening, more so as antidotal evidence surfaced in the following days that the objects had been painted on radar. Someone had a transistor radio out on the street that night and we could hear the crowd reacting on the live broadcast as the objects “performed” so we could be certain that we were seeing the same objects as those at the bottling plant parking lot, which was approximately 2 miles from our location. The next morning the Southwest Times Record ran a front-page story on the sightings, complete with a low-resolution jerky black and white time exposure that to this day still ranks as the worst! UFO pho to I’ve ever seen. Needless to say, the town and the media were abuzz. A couple of days later the Air Force out of Little Rock released a statement, to the amusement of those who had not seen the objects, explaining away the entire incident as swamp gas. There are two things I can say with certainty about the objects I witnessed: 1) They were solid objects, not gaseous and 2) They were controlled (flying in formation, etc). The speed and maneuverability that these objects soundlessly displayed, is still exponentially greater than any technology even today, almost 40 years later. I would love to hear from others that were witness to the phenomenon that night in 1967. My dad, the neighbor with the binoculars and I’m sure many others are no longer with us. Let’s not let this story die as well. I'm guessing at the date based upon other reports, so if you are certain of the exact date please post.




NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate. PD


Posted 2007-02-01

NUFORC UFO Sighting 47142
Occurred: 1967-08-05 01:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2005-10-21 12:31 Pacific
Duration: 30 seconds
No of observers: 0

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Chevron


Results of research on Ft. Smith chevron sighting.

This is a follow-up to my recent post here regarding the specific chevron-shaped object. I have since done some research that would dispel two of my theories.

I contacted a retired B-58 crew member who confirmed that the leading edge of the wing did not glow when supersonic.

I have also researched the possiblity of the XB-70. The Final Report on the the XB-70 program published in 1972 lists every flight of each of the giant delta wing aircraft. A/V-2 had already crashed by the time of this sighting. A/V-1 was flying.

I have been unable to determine if the XB-70 did any night flying, or flying significantly away from Edwards AFB, CA. From reading the chief test pilot's summary, I would highly doubt that this aircraft did either. It was a very complex aircraft, often having malfunctions requiring unique support. To intentionally stray from its support base would be doubtful.

Also, it was a very crudely equipped and instrumented aircraft in its experimental form. Its single TACAN worked poorly, requiring the crew to rely heavily on FAA ATC for help with navigation.

There is one long-shot date of possibility. The aircraft flew on 8/24/67 for over two hours, reached over Mach 2, and an altitude of 58,000 feet. If the actual sighting that I witnessed occured on this date, it would be an interesting coincidence.

So, I believe that leaves this sighting on mysterious footing. Other possible aircraft of the day are the CIA A-12 Blackbird and its followers, the YF-12 and SR-71. That will take more research and will probably be more difficult to find records in the public domain.






NUFORC Note:

We express our gratitude to the source of this report for his having done such nice investigative work regarding his sighting. PD


Posted 2005-11-03

NUFORC UFO Sighting 42165
Occurred: 1967-07-05 20:45 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2005-02-24 19:19 Pacific
Duration: 5 MINUTES
No of observers: 500

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Triangle
Characteristics: Lights on object, Changed Colo

Triangular lighted hovering object over Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1967 or 1968

I wonder why I never hear anything about this event. It's like it never happened and at least 500 people (probably more than 1000) witnessed it.

We were outside our home at ((street number deleted)) North 36th in Fort Smith, Arkansas. My mother, father and myself were there. Our neighbors were in their front yards. Suddenly in the sky a triangular shaped object appear right above our home not 100 yards (app.) above us. It had three lights on it with one on each corner. We all saw it at the same time, as did many people over the whole city of Fort Smith, Arkansas.

The radio station started reporting on it after many calls. A well-known preacher in Fort Smith was praying about it, and the radio station had everyone gather at the Pepsi or Coca Cola bottling plant and there were at least 1000 people gathered there who had seen the object/objects all over the city. The preacher also was there and it was quite an event. It was in the news for a couple of days, and then some hokey story about a weather balloon was released and suddenly the story was cold.

In the past few years I have spoken to people who did see it and remember it well, and we all remember the event and wish we knew more about it. The craft we saw could move very suddenly very fast and just stop and hover in the air. No one had ever seen anything like it. Last year, I heard from a man who had been stationed at Fort Chaffee (just southeast of the city) who was looking for people who remembered the event. He said he had never gotten it out of his mind. He is out of the service now and lives in Florida. I would love to know if anyone has reported this at this website or remembers it as I do. My sister was in Oklahoma at the time and she and her boyfriend saw it from the bridge that leads from Oklahoma into Fort Smith. Would love to hear more from anyone about this event. The date may not be correct, but it was around that time. By the way, many people reported that the lights changed colors on the craft.

Posted 2005-04-16

NUFORC UFO Sighting 179081
Occurred: 1966-08-27 20:45 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2023-10-23 20:12 Pacific
Duration: 5 minutes
No of observers: 4

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA
Location details: Hwy 9A Arkoma Okla

Shape: Disk
Characteristics: Lights on object, Emitted beams

Hovering, round noiseless aircraft with round light in center hovering low over my car.

Refering to Ft Smith Ark sighting in Aug. of 66 or 67. Made headlines, seen by hundreds of people. I saw it within 50 ft. A large round aircraft slowly glided over my parked car and hovered motionless, turned on very bright light in center for 10- 15 seconds, light went out & craft was nearly out of sight in a second. All other witnesses reported seeing small objects, this was approximately 40-60 feet in diameter. They were three other people with me, I the only one left at 76. I have the newspaper clippings and thought I would share this with you.

Posted 2023-10-28

NUFORC UFO Sighting 42427
Occurred: 1966-01-15 22:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2005-02-25 18:57 Pacific
Duration: 1 Hr or more
No of observers: 4

Location: Fort Smith, AR, USA

Shape: Circle


I had just moved to Muldrow, OK. and had guests from Weatherford, OK there. We turned on the 10PM news, and the announcer was saying that hundreds of people were out in the streets in Ft. Smith watching strange lights. We immediately went outside and could see them. They appeared a lot like the moon, except about 1/3 smaller, and of course there were several of them. They were all round, and the same size. It was a perfectly clear night. They would be perfectly still,and then move slowly, or sometimes very rapidly. They appeared to be about 2,000 to 3,000 ft. altitude, and we could hear nothing, absolutely no noise. We watched them for 10-15 minutes until we got too cold. I now live back in Central OKLA and there's a book in our local library which details this very sighting.



NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that date of sighting is approximate. PD


Posted 2005-04-16