File 23981 · 2021 — 2025

FBI northeastern orbs

Northeastern United States, United States · Region, not street

Opened 9/9/2026

Ledger illustration of the file — not a photograph of the object. Ledger illustration of the report. A northeastern night. — Night Ledger illustration of the file

OrbHynek NLofficialArchiveRegion6 witnesses

Standing

Unidentified

On the public record, and still open. A claim, paper, or film — not a finding that it was ours, and not a finding that it was not.

What was claimed

FBI files released in 2026 describe a four-year series of silent orbs, including agents who saw the lights themselves. The Bureau did not identify them.

What is on the record

This file is a working record — a report, not a verdict. Official paper, if any, is linked where we have it.

PURSUE Release 03, published 12 June 2026, put FBI records on a cluster of orb reports in the northeastern United States from 2021 through 2025. Witnesses, including Bureau personnel, described silent, smooth-moving lights — sometimes two, as if tethered — and in one account a brilliant sphere shedding smaller lights. The files include interview notes, digital renderings, and video. The objects were not identified in the released paper.

Agents on a backyard is still a light in the sky. This catalogue files the Bureau’s own paper, not a recovered craft.

Could this have been ours?

The known sky, that night.

The station, the trains, and the rest of the known sky were already there. Hold the claim next to them.

1998 —

International Space Station

A bright, steady moving star. A few minutes to cross. No strobe. Occupied since 2000. NASA publishes the pass times. Not unidentified.

2019 —

Starlink trains

A line of equally spaced lights after a launch. The most common string of orbs in current reports. A satellite deployment, not a formation of craft.

Always

Venus and the bright planets

A fixed brilliant point. Does not streak. Does not hover over a street then leave. Often the first misread light in a rural report.

Always

Aircraft, balloons, meteors

Landing lights, flares, lanterns, reentries, fireballs. They are on the known sky. They do not close a file by themselves — they are what a serious look has to hold the claim against.

Orbit · Space — the desks for lights that are already named.

Sources

FBI / PURSUE Release 03

Paper on this file

Official or public documents that belong with this case — not a verdict.

FOIA / archiveDeclassified

Public vault (files 1947–)

FBI Vault: UFO files

Federal Bureau of Investigation · United States

The FBI’s public Vault hosts scanned UFO memos, including the 1950 Hottel note about three-foot bodies — a third-hand story the Bureau did not confirm.

FOIA / archiveUnclassified

8 May 2026 — rolling

PURSUE portal, war.gov/UFO

U.S. Department of War · United States

The Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters opened a public portal of declassified files. Five tranches through August 2026. The portal is paper, not a recovered craft.

Related files

Same craft, same place, same years. A neighbor in the catalogue — not a conclusion.

OrbFrom the netFilm

Same craft · Same country · Same years · Weekend of 30 August 2026

Orb swarm over Nevada

Nevada · United States

Identified

A sped-up public clip circulated on X as a swarm of orbs crossing a Nevada night sky.

OrbFrom the net

Same craft · Same country · Same years · Late August 2026 (last Wednesday before Sep 2)

Eerie Orb Maneuvers Erratically While Woman Walks Dog in Blakely

Blakely, Pennsylvania · United States

Unidentified

A woman walking her neighbor's dog observed a bright orb that hovered, then performed rapid up, down, left, and right movements at high speed before disappearing. She captured video of the event.