File 23987 · October 2023

Western US Event

Western 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 western desert night. — Night Ledger illustration of the file

OrbHynek NLofficialArchiveRegion5 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

Five federal agents described orange and red orbs near a sensitive site in October 2023. AARO later called the file among its most compelling and still unresolved.

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.

In October 2023, five federal agents reported unidentified lights near a sensitive national-security site in the western United States. PURSUE Release 03 published their first-person statements, a notional map, and FBI renderings of an orange ‘mother’ orb with smaller red lights. AARO’s public comment, as of June 2026, was that the case remained unresolved and among the more compelling in its holdings.

Five named federal witnesses and an unresolved official file. Still orbs, not occupants. This catalogue files the statements.

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 / AARO / PURSUE Release 03

Paper on this file

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

ReportUnclassified

8 March 2024

AARO Historical Record Report, Volume I

All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office · United States

AARO’s historical review found no evidence that the U.S. government has confirmed extraterrestrial technology, and traced many secret-program stories to real classified aerospace work.

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.

Orb

Same craft · Same country · Same years · 2021 — 2025

FBI northeastern orbs

Northeastern United States · United States

Unidentified

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.

OrbFrom the netFilm

Same craft · Same country · 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 · 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.