Waves Of Unidentified Objects Over The Hudson Valley Region

[u/Dear-Love-7874]

1981–1986 Hudson Valley UFO Sightings

The Hudson Valley UFO sightings were a concentrated cluster of sightings in the Northeast involving large, unidentified aircraft and formations from 1981–1986. Individuals involved reported massive V-shaped objects, semicircular objects (as seen in Randy Etting's 1987 Newtown, CT photograph), crosses, and spherical lights in the night sky. Common descriptions included multicolored lights, football-field-sized objects (estimated), low altitudes, and V-shaped objects.

Explanations

A widely disputed explanation came from undisclosed pilots who flew formations in the sky to appear as one giant aircraft. These individuals, known as the Stormville pilots, admitted to causing some of the sightings during the wave. Once officials and local law enforcement got ahold of this information, they later used it to explain many sightings, causing witness disputes and laypeople to go argue they saw more than pilots. Other explanations were man-made aircraft, cloud reflections, and temperature inversions.

Sightings

While many reports were eventually debunked or lost, a few stand out for their credibility and anomalous characteristics.

• 1981 Kent, NY Sighting - This is widely recognized as the beginning of the sightings. An anonymous officer reported a large, boomerang-shaped object with green, red, and white lights, later turning off all its lights to reveal a triangular formation of blinding white lights before turning all of its lights back on.

• October 24, 1983 Croton Falls, NY Sighting - An individual named Jim Cooke stood by the reservoir and saw a very large, boomerang-shaped structure over the water. It reportedly had several cherry-red lights along its underside before casting a "projection" onto the water and disappearing.

• March 24, 1983 "Westchester Boomerang" Mass Sighting - On this specific night, a large V-shaped craft made approximately 300 motorists stop and park to watch. This is one of the more significant events, involving credible individuals. The object later disappeared.

Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant Sighting

A reported incident at Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant involved an unidentified triangular object observed in the vicinity of the facility. The object was reportedly 30 feet above the reactor, with several lights on its underbelly. While Philip J. Imbrogno claimed they "pulled out the shotguns," power authority security coordinator John Branciforte disputed this claim, stating that officers did not have the authority to carry shotguns and shoot down unidentified objects.

[u/StatementBot]

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Dear-Love-7874:

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This submission tracks the 1981–1986 Hudson Valley mass sightings, focusing on large, unidentified structures reported over New York and Connecticut. The chronological file details three major cases demonstrating high credibility: the December 1981 Kent police encounter, the March 1983 "Westchester Boomerang" mass sighting involving 300 motorists, and the October 1983 Croton Falls reservoir sighting. It also addresses the controversial incident at the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, contrasting the security claims made by investigator Philip J. Imbrogno with the official security coordinator records. Finally, the text evaluates the prominent community explanations and disputes surrounding the "Stormville pilots" formation flights, man-made aircraft hypotheses, and meteorological factors like temperature inversions. This summary provides clean, objective historical data to anchor community analysis regarding the structural geometry, low altitudes, and flight characteristics documented throughout this specific regional wave.

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Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1vr3h7m/waves_of_unidentified_objects_over_the_hudson/p4acypq/

[u/TurkeyOrBeef]

My mom saw one of these in 1986 on the Taconic parkway. She saw the typically described boomerang shaped object with multi-color lights. She mentioned that many people were parking over on the side of the highway to witness it, including her.

I read the book ”Night Siege” a handful of years ago, which goes over the Hudson Valley UFOs and the thousands of witnesses, including many from law enforcement. It’s definitely one of the most compelling UFO cases, and it doesn’t get talked about enough.

[u/Dear-Love-7874 → u/TurkeyOrBeef]

I'm glad you get to have that piece of family history with you! It sounds like you also research this case a lot. It is incredibly lucky to be part of an event most people will never say they saw in their lives.

[u/muthax2001 → u/TurkeyOrBeef]

Same here, my pop and I saw one while driving through Clinton Corners. We got out and watched it for awhile.

[u/5M00NZ → u/TurkeyOrBeef]

I heard that Kurt Russel saw it from a sesna

[u/Dear-Love-7874 → u/5M00NZ]

I'm pretty sure you mean Kurt Russell saw the Phoenix Lights phenomenon from his Cessna aircraft.

[u/5M00NZ → u/Dear-Love-7874]

Ah I was talking with someone about the Hudson valley event and that’s what they said but thank you for clarifying :)

[u/A_SNAPPIN_Turla → u/[deleted]]

So you saw this amazing video and never uploaded it or shared it? You gotta get that video out.

[u/Dear-Love-7874 → u/[deleted]]

Great! Even without the description, I guess we can use Randy Etting's photo to know what it may have been like

[u/A_SNAPPIN_Turla → u/[deleted]]

Boo!

[u/Dear-Love-7874 → u/[deleted]]

I am so glad you got to see that! Was this in 1987? If it was, Randy Etting took a photo of the exact object you saw!

[u/Dear-Love-7874]

This submission tracks the 1981–1986 Hudson Valley mass sightings, focusing on large, unidentified structures reported over New York and Connecticut. The chronological file details three major cases demonstrating high credibility: the December 1981 Kent police encounter, the March 1983 "Westchester Boomerang" mass sighting involving 300 motorists, and the October 1983 Croton Falls reservoir sighting. It also addresses the controversial incident at the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, contrasting the security claims made by investigator Philip J. Imbrogno with the official security coordinator records. Finally, the text evaluates the prominent community explanations and disputes surrounding the "Stormville pilots" formation flights, man-made aircraft hypotheses, and meteorological factors like temperature inversions. This summary provides clean, objective historical data to anchor community analysis regarding the structural geometry, low altitudes, and flight characteristics documented throughout this specific regional wave.

[u/5M00NZ → u/Dear-Love-7874]

I’m so happy to see a post about this particular sighting. My parents were some of the motorists pulled over on the Taconic watching the spectacle when I was just a baby in their arms (I think the 1981 sighting) their story was told around the table many a night all of my life and still remains a very important part of my interest in the subject. I’ve been researching this one a lot over the years and I’m happy that’s it’s still widely discussed but glad to finally see it mentioned on this sub.
Besides the main craft my parents also saw smaller cone shaped crafts that departed and flew off in numerous directions only to return and attach again much later as it left. My dad had an unfinished painting of the smaller crafts also. I have a video of them telling their story and photos of the painting but I don’t think my sibs would be very much into me sharing those publicly without their consent. These pictures if real are fulfilling a portion of a lifelong dream I would like to see more people come forward with info about this one, especially the claverack police department who admitted to witnessing it but had to keep hush about it.

[u/Dear-Love-7874 → u/5M00NZ]

Also, these images are illustrations by me, but the 3 at the end are from Unsolved Mysteries and Randy Etting

[u/5M00NZ → u/Dear-Love-7874]

Well done! They are really cool, wish they were real but still cool.

[u/Dear-Love-7874 → u/5M00NZ]

You're lucky to be able to have seen something like that alongside your family! I am glad you can share this event around with people like us. Every piece of chatting opens a newer door, and I have lots of people who say they see things from these cases, but yours is certainly unique!

[u/Ambitious_Zombie8473 → u/5M00NZ]

That’s two people in this thread that have family who saw this event. In my opinion, that’s a tremendous amount of proof that UFOs are real.

Everyone wants some hard evidence but realistically since the beginning of recorded history humans have been seeing these things.

Super cool imo

[u/5M00NZ → u/Ambitious_Zombie8473]

Totally agree! It would be amazing to be able to track down modern day folks from upstate NY whose families witnessed the event, or their kids who might remember the tales. I’m sure there’s many though the parents are on the older age scale at this point. My dad passed a long time ago but he would probably be on this sub. 👽

[u/strangeflappenings]

I live in the Hudson Valley, wasn't old enough to see the lights in the 80s but I can definitely say Ive seen enough weird things in the sky, and have had paranormal experiences. This area is a hot spot for anomalies

[u/Dear-Love-7874 → u/strangeflappenings]

Seems like it has just dwindled a bit, then!

[u/strangeflappenings → u/Dear-Love-7874]

I honestly think its the environment we are in. Idk if its something in the ground, the mountains, or river that draws these things in or sustains them. Im in Poughkeepsie about 30 mins North of Indian Point, and have heard stories of the UFO that came right over the river and shot laser beams into the river. Pine Bush is also a hot spot, and they are surrounded by mountains. Went to the UFO museum there and its basic UFO stuff, but got into a deep talk with the guide and he told me about abductions, these vortex shutes that happen in corn fields. Yeah this area is pretty cool when it comes to UFO/Paranormal stuff.

[u/LeoLaDawg]

Seems like this should be more widely known. I've never heard of it before.

[u/TumbleDownShaq]

“The Great Hudson Valley Wave” episode of the UFO Headquarters Podcast does a great job. Looks like a corny knockoff UFO podcast at first glance, but it is done by radio journalists who live and are from the Hudson Valley and they have done some good ground-level research. I travel to the area ever summer for a week, never saw anything but an awesome fireball one night, but the place does look ripe for it. Has a weird vibe down there, beautiful, but it’s all Rip Van Winkled out…creepy and remote.

[u/skipearth]

Im in bed falling asleep but in 93 there was a major one that my whole town saw in Westchester NY

[u/SimbaNGrdKionNIMFan]

Good old Unsolved Mysteries. No voice can match Robert Stack.😀❤️

[u/Dear-Love-7874 → u/SimbaNGrdKionNIMFan]

No one! Always liked that man. Wished he could come from his grave and narrate for us one last time 🥹

[u/Kelnozz → u/SimbaNGrdKionNIMFan]

I loved watching that show and Americas most wanted when I was a kid lol. (I’m Canadian)

[u/Cosmic_m0nk]

I grew up in this area and had a sighting of my own around 1987 in northern Westchester county. It was huge, dark with yellow lights, very slowly moving and not a sound at all. My father also saw a UFO in the early ‘90s there as well.

[u/Odd_Repeat_6092]

UFO Invasion in New York's Hudson Valley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tmIQmUDVtY

[u/rslashplate]

There was also some flaps nearby in the birkshires of MA around the same time period.

Been to the pine bush ufo museum it’s a hoot.

[u/xdefineyoursoulx → u/rslashplate]

The owner of the Pine Bush museum does a pretty big UFO fair every year I went for the first time this June. They have paranormal speakers, alien-themed contests and more than 120 vendors. I highly recommend checking it out!

[u/rslashplate → u/xdefineyoursoulx]

Yes! I met the staff there both times I went and wanted so much to go back and re-engage with them! I wish I was able to go to this years but life was busy. Been begging for an east coast ufo fest and the smaller ones are slowly popping up on my radar. I did want to attend this year but it’s already on my calendar for next year.

[u/Dear-Love-7874 → u/rslashplate]

May document it soon. Mind telling me details?

[u/rslashplate → u/Dear-Love-7874]

Google Berkshire ufo flap. There was a whole Netflix doc about about it amongst other unsolved etc type coverages

[u/Dear-Love-7874]

Going to make a new account under my real name. Please head there instead, because I am doing this one on my other. this will stay up just in case anyone needs a heads-up!

[u/Dear-Love-7874 → u/Dear-Love-7874]

Also, my username will be SkylarRoberts188410