NUFORC UFO Sighting 156129
Occurred: 2020-05-01 21:10 Local
Reported: 2020-05-01 21:32 Pacific
Duration: 2 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, USA

Shape: Formation
Characteristics: Lights on object

Seen a row of these lights going quietly thru the night sky, called another bystander to witness as well.



Posted 2020-06-25

NUFORC UFO Sighting 137697
Occurred: 2017-12-10 22:50 Local
Reported: 2017-12-10 23:34 Pacific
Duration: 4 minutes
No of observers: 3

Location: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, USA

Shape: Formation
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

Formation of two unusually saturated, deep ruby-red blinking lights flew silently across entire sky at high altitude in under 4 minutes

A formation of 2 objects (1 pulsing deep ruby-red light at a higher altitude, and 1 pulsing deep ruby-red light that also had a periodic phosphorescent strobe, following behind and below the first object) were observed moving from the southeast to the northwest, seemingly at a high altitude or otherwise totally silently, and at a very high rate of speed, traversing the whole visible sky from horizon to horizon in about 4 minutes. No green or white navigation lights were observed on or to the side of either object, and the phosphorescent strobe on the second object seemed to be oriented vertically above it rather than on a wing or tail, and was itself comprised seemingly of 3 or 4 vertically clustered strobing points of light. Despite the apparent altitude, the lights were very large.

A commercial airliner was observed crossing near the flightpath of the 2 objects at a similar altitude on a perpendicular heading. The appearance of the airliner in the sky was strikingly different from the 2 silent objects: by comparison, the objects' lights were much deeper and their colors more saturated than the airliner's obviously electrical lights.




NUFORC Note:

Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD


Posted 2017-12-14

NUFORC UFO Sighting 115550
Occurred: 2014-11-22 20:00 Local
Reported: 2014-11-22 20:21 Pacific
Duration: 10 seconds
No of observers: 2

Location: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, USA

Shape: Changing
Characteristics: Lights on object, Changed Colo

It was an spiraling object.




NUFORC Note:

Possible hoax. Witness does not provide any details. PD


Posted 2014-11-26

NUFORC UFO Sighting 110663
Occurred: 2014-06-25 23:30 Local
Reported: 2014-06-26 00:15 Pacific
Duration: 3-7 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, USA

Shape: Circle
Characteristics: Lights on object

6 bright, red-orange lights were spotted and mysteriously vanished a few seconds later.

Orange County, California- My Dad and I were driving home around 11:30 pm. Suddenly, he said, “Look up and tell me what you see.” As I was searching the sky, he swerved into a parking lot to get a better look and my dad looked for them again, but they were gone.

He saw about six bright, red-orange, circular lights grouped together but not in any particular pattern. They were bigger than stars. My dad is a pilot and is constantly looking up, instinctively searching for planes and observing what the weather is like, so of course, it was not unusual for him to be seeing the sky. Shortly after the sighting we went to report it and discovered the very recent other sightings of lights with the exact same description, many in Southern California. First time is chance, second is a coincidence, but over 210 sightings is a pattern. Weird.

Posted 2014-06-27

NUFORC UFO Sighting 111099
Occurred: 2014-06-18 23:00 Local
Reported: 2014-07-05 17:19 Pacific
Duration: 15-20 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, USA

Shape: Fireball


Large, slowly moving orange fireball along RSM Blvd.

I was driving home late from work (around 11:00 PM), when something caught my eye off to the right. I had just crossed over the Alicia Parkway bridge that leads to Rancho Santa Margarita Blvd. to make a right turn, and there it was: a glowing orange ball of light. It was moving at a steady pace, parallel with the road I was on, so I decided to follow it.

The object was large- I estimate it must have been the size of a house. I signaled it with my headlights. I pulled over to view it and kept following it as far as I could, until it passed over the hills and was out of sight. I probably frightened the car in front of me, because I was following them and flashing my brights until they turned into a residential neighborhood.

At that point, the UFO was out of sight, so I turned and drove home.




NUFORC Note:

Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD


Posted 2014-07-11

NUFORC UFO Sighting 104539
Occurred: 2013-11-16 20:30 Local
Reported: 2013-11-17 11:29 Pacific
Duration: 10 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object

Northwest in front of the foothills of the Santa Ana mountains, my wife and I were on our way to the supermarket when we witnessed five to 10 floating red lights that appeared to originate from the Santa Ana mountains.

We do not believe they are flares. Possibly hoaxers with floating chinese lanterns.

Posted 2013-11-20

NUFORC UFO Sighting 91691
Occurred: 2012-08-10 21:30 Local
Reported: 2012-08-10 23:04 Pacific
Duration: 1 minute
No of observers: 2

Location: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, USA

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

Object descending slowly, looked to be on fire and crashed in the hills in O Neil Park, Rancho Santa Margarita, Ca

Object looked to be on fire descending into the hills. Bright orange, red and yellow. Very large.

Posted 2012-08-19

NUFORC UFO Sighting 76269
Occurred: 2010-07-04 21:30 Local
Reported: 2010-07-07 16:31 Pacific
Duration: 35 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, USA

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Lights on object

the flight pattern of the craft and consistancy of the lights and speed does not exist on earth, abrasive

4th of july, 9:30 p.m. pst. i walked across the street to view the fireworks show from my house looking east towards the lake approximately 1 mile. the show hadn't started yet, but what was very much in my face was an xtremely bright light moving xtremely fast in a triangular tracking in a radius of about 3 miles left to right. Up and down than would disappear. than would re-appear 3 miles or so in the opposite direction with only 1 of 4 lights on which were eratic in sequence , red, green,orange, and the 1 bright light. than it would hover and shoot straight down at a speed no aircraft could do at an angle than stop and hold position, than the smaller colored lights would be off than the xtreme bright light would re-appear. example: think as if you were in a corner of a dark room with a flash light moving it around and turning it on and off and moving the flash light within a certain perimeter left to right up and down. Than the fireworks started, thats how! i could guage the distance of the craft, in the clouds and distance from me and what it was doing. based on the height of the fire works and the mountain range behind it. The 1 very bright light had to be at least the size of a 2 car garage, doing meneuvers and changing lights at least 1 mile above ground and not breaking the boundry of a 3 mile radius in either direction, the craft was not visible other than the strobes and the bright light. After the fireworks started, the display of activity became more pronounced and the only word i can think of is aggitated. it almost seemed like, the bright light would shut off, and almost immediately be in a totally different level and area at a triangular descent than the other lights would be on, the craft was consistant in this fashion with the lights, almost as if the lights were for identification or communication. Note: i live in a canyon and at this distance you can hear helicopters, jets over head, and re-con planes, that fl! y even higher over everyday noise, this craft was silent, not ! a blip o f nothing. I am use to seeing all sorts of aviation fly over my neighborhood, this craft wasnt made on this planet, it had xtreme responce at angles impossible for any pilot to endure and at speeds i have never seen. it was consistant, i actually got so tired of watching i just went back in the house. I told my chef buddy at work the next work day about it, than he heard about the reports on coast to coast and informed me, that is why i have come to youre site. lets hope it is not demonic .



Posted 2010-07-10

NUFORC UFO Sighting 71142
Occurred: 2009-07-17 21:30 Local
Reported: 2009-07-18 09:46 Pacific
Duration: approx. 15 min.
No of observers: 4

Location: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, USA

Shape: Circle
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object, Changed Color, Electrical or magnetic effects

was at the neiborhood with a few friends and sighed a round ufo.

I was at the neiborhood pool with 2 of my friends and my sister. We were having a conversation when my sister said, “wow! What’s that up in the sky?” so my friends and I turned around and saw a flying object in the distance. It must have been about 3 or 4 miles away. But it was a very clear night with no clouds and you could se stars. But it was definitely not a star. What we say was a round, spinning object zipping throughout the sky. It had neon coloring and the lights would switch colors. It started with neon blue, then it turned into neon green, then a bright white light and then it went dark. We were kind of confused and it lighted back up and was a deep red color. When it was the red color, it was flashing. It went out again and then it started doing the color cycle again. there was a ring around the object and thats where the lights were going around. in the middle, it was pitch black.It was then out of our point of view because of houses and some trees. We came home, and my sister looked out her window just to see if it would pop up again, and soon after it did come up and then it disappeared. That was the last of it.

When we were coming home from the pool, we had some weird power outage types of things. The lights were going out on our street and when we got home, the lights in our living room were being kind of funky and were going on and off and like flickering. We did not have anymore problems after that.



Posted 2009-08-05

NUFORC UFO Sighting 66293
Occurred: 2008-10-17 21:30 Local
Reported: 2008-10-18 11:42 Pacific
Duration: 1 hour
No of observers: 11

Location: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object, Changed Color, Aircraft nearby, Electrical or magnetic effects

Moving bright lights moving in all directions in Southern California.

At 9:30 P.M. me and my friend were called to come outside by my friends Dad. We looked into the sky and there were 2 lights bigger and brighter than stars. These white lights were able to change how bright and dim they were. They also had a red light on it that would quickly blink on occasion.

These lights were moving in all directions and were able to change direction very fast. These lights would go in circles around each other and drift apart. They would go as high as the moon was and drop to behind the Mountains in about 1 and one half seconds. When planes flew by these lights would dim so much that they could not be seen and as soon as the plane was gone the light would go up and start shining. During this time my cell phone was not able to call or receive calls or messages. My friends house phone that he brought was also having difficulty calling people.

The background of this scene was a California suburb with many trees and Mountains in the background. There was also a grey hazy in the sky around this time but it was not very close to the lights. There was at least 11 witnesses and one of them was a police officer.

Posted 2008-10-31

NUFORC UFO Sighting 59691
Occurred: 2007-11-07 18:15 Local
Reported: 2007-11-07 20:41 Pacific
Duration: 1 minute
No of observers: 2

Location: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, USA

Shape: Circle
Characteristics: Lights on object

Over Rancho Santa Margarita veiwed a circular object with moving blue lights way up in the sky./

Me and my mom were driving home when I looked up I saw a circular object with blue lights.

We called my brother to tell him to look outside, by the time he looked out side it was gone.

We too are wondering what that was, could this be a UFO???

Posted 2007-11-28

NUFORC UFO Sighting 57256
Occurred: 2007-06-21 21:30 Local
Reported: 2007-06-23 12:51 Pacific
Duration: 30-45 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object

drifting small white light - no noise

some time between 9:00 and 10:00 pm I saw a small white light at about the same altitude as an airliner would fly, perhaps even lower.

The craft was silent and had no blinking lights. It almost appeared to be drifting in a zig-zagging motion.

From the time I spotted it off in the distance, to the time it passed over my roof, I would say only lasted about 30 - 45 seconds.




NUFORC Note:

Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD


Posted 2007-08-07

NUFORC UFO Sighting 28820
Occurred: 2003-05-16 23:00 Local
Reported: 2003-05-17 18:38 Pacific
Duration: about a min
No of observers: 2

Location: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, USA

Shape: Disk
Characteristics: Electrical or magnetic effects

shiny disc in the sky freaked me out

i was driving my sis to bus stop and we look up at the clear sky and this disc/ball looking thing was hovering in one place for like a minute...but kind of spinning..it was really weird..and at certain spots when it hit the sunlight it glistened...it was freaky

Posted 2003-05-27

NUFORC UFO Sighting 25161
Occurred: 2002-09-19 19:35 Local
Reported: 2002-09-19 20:01 Pacific
Duration: about 15 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, USA

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Left a trail, Aircraft nearby

Object leaves illuminated cloudlike spiralling path in the night sky, before disappearing

The sky was dark outside, with no clouds around at all. So I was very surprised when I looked outside and saw a bright cloudlike path, much like the trail left behind by a jet with a smoke trail. This trail was very bright against the night sky, and spirled around and around, and finally amassed into a large body of cloud-like radiance. This entire trail was so luminated, it almost looked like it was lit from within. As I followed the path with my eyes up to this large mass, I noticed movement towards the perimeter of this mass, moving upward. It appeared to be a small craft or object, moving upward. The direction of the path was from south to north. I followed this object visually for a few seconds, and then it almost appeared to explode. I do not know what happened to it after that. And they sky was left brightened by this cloudlike path for about 20 minutes. After the craft disappeared, I saw a few aircraft in the area.



((BEGIN ASSOCIATED PRESS ARTICLE ABOUT LAUNCH))

Air Force Test Missile Out West
Fri Sep 20, 1:25 AM ET


VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) - An Air Force missile test Thursday provided a spectacular light show seen over California and much of the West, as far away as Utah and New Mexico.

The colorful contrail was seen soon after the unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile blasted off at 7:36 p.m. from an underground silo at the Vandenberg military base north of Santa Barbara.

"The smoke went up in spirals as the sun was setting and turned into an orange, amber color. It was like a flower going into bloom pretty quickly," said Simon Cox, who saw it from a restaurant terrace in Santa Barbara.

The missile traveled about 4,200 miles in about 30 minutes, striking a predetermined target at the Kwajalein Missile Range in the western chain of the Marshall Islands, the Air Force said.

Vandenberg spokeswoman Kelly Gabel said clear conditions were responsible for the spectacular light show.

"We do this two or three times a year, but because the weather was so perfect we decided to launch it early," Gabel said. As a result, people were still awake to see it, and although the sun had set, sunlight below the horizon glinted off unspent fuel particles and water droplets.

"Suddenly we're getting calls from people as far away as New Mexico who saw it and want to know what it is," Gabel said.

The mission was directed by the 576th Flight Test Squadron at Vandenberg and the 341th Space Wing and the 341st Space Wing, from Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana.

The purpose was to test launch systems and the missile's accuracy and reliability.

((END ARTICLE BY ASSOCIATED PRESS))

NUFORC Note:

Missile launch from Vandenberg AFB. Please see article. PD


Posted 2002-09-28

NUFORC UFO Sighting 17286
Occurred: 2001-04-17 10:20 Local
Reported: 2001-04-17 00:00 Pacific
Duration: < 1 second
No of observers: 1

Location: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, USA

Shape: Unknown


Brief pulse of visible, white light from an unknown source, which made daylight appear to be extremely bright

At 10:20am a bright flash of light ocurred, with no accompanying sound. It appeared to have been a pulse or two, closely-spaced pulses of visible light, which "whited-out" the outdoors for a very brief period. As odd and improbable as it sounds, The pulse(s) appeared to be from the sun.

Posted 2001-04-28

NUFORC UFO Sighting 10438
Occurred: 1999-11-05 19:30 Local
Reported: 1999-11-05 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 30 min period
No of observers: 1

Location: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, USA

Shape: Chevron


Seen a Chevron shaped craft in clear skies with no lights or no noise. It moved very graceful, yet crossed the sky at such a fast pace.

I just finished working out at the running track at the intermediate school. It was 7:30 pm and I was laying on the bleachers looking up at Jupiter. I was laying with my head pointing NW, suddenly a object shaped like a Chevron caught my attention. The object was over on my right side moving SE at a slow speed. It was completely dark out and there where no lights on the craft, it looked dull and light in color, almost transparent.The funny thing was it made no noise, I live under the route that most planes take heading east out of LAX and John Wayne Airport. So we can always faintly hear the sound of the jets when they pass over head, but not this one. I watched it for about 20 seconds until it disappeared. I continued to lay there and wonder about what I just saw, then at 7:40 pm the same shape crossed the entire sky from right to left. What was so different was the rate of speed, it took about 5 or 6 seconds to crossover my line of sight. I was still laying on my back, so I could see the whole sky. The shape was traveling so fast, yet it looked to move so graceful. What a sight! Then at 7:57pm, I seen the same thing again, only this time it was on my left side, traveling much like the the first sighting, slow and graceful. Well thats it, I'm a believer now, it was such a sight. Its now 9:15pm and I'm going back out to see if its still hangin around.

Posted 1999-11-09

NUFORC UFO Sighting 185709
Occurred: 1994-01-01 01:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2024-12-21 00:11 Pacific
Duration: Unknown, lost time
No of observers: 1

Location: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, USA

Shape: Chevron
Color: Dark
Estimated Size: 10-20 feet
Viewed From: Land
Direction from Viewer: South
Angle of Elevation: 45
Closest Distance: 30 feet
Estimated Speed: Hovering, then slow ascension out of view
Characteristics: Missing Time

A craft hovering outside a large backroom window, seemingly pulsating shape as if a large manta ray.

When I was younger, I repeatedly saw faces peering from my door's threshold at night. After it stopped, I used to run up to my parents room and sleep on their floor. One night, I vividly remember a floating object outside the large window of a common-room I passed on my way to the stairs. I stared at it for a very long time; an unknown amount of time. I felt very awake and then somewhat dizzy. I remember recovering from a dizziness, then staring at it again for a long time. I didn't take a step during this entire experience, only stared out at this large floating object until it backed up, turned, and ascended out of view. It appeared to be mostly slim, reminding me of a large bat ray or manta ray. It seemed to have a very smooth bevel and bulbous front. It was anywhere from 10-15 feet wide and 15-20 feet long. I felt mild fear, the kind you experience when encountering a large, unfriendly dog. It remains as one of my clearest memories.

Posted 2024-12-21