Paranormal Department Space Anomaly Network Paranormal Department × Space Anomaly

Tag: Explained

  • Japan Air Lines Flight 1628 — Eastern Alaska (1986)

    Japan Air Lines Flight 1628 — Eastern Alaska (1986)

    Historical case When: November 17, 1986  ·  Where: Over eastern Alaska (Reykjavík–Anchorage leg)

    Status: Explained (in part) — an investigator concluded the crew likely saw the planets Jupiter and Mars, plus radar clutter. This is disputed.

    Typed FAA page with flight path plot data for the Japan Air Lines sighting
    FAA flight-path plot data page from the 1986 JAL Flight 1628 files, held by the U.S. National Archives (Record Group 237).
    Credit: U.S. Federal Aviation Administration / U.S. National Archives (1986) · Licence: Public domain (per Wikimedia Commons) · Source

    Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1628 was a Boeing 747-200 flying from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Narita. On the Reykjavík to Anchorage leg, at 5:11 p.m. on November 17, 1986, over eastern Alaska, pilot Kenji Terauchi reported seeing three unidentified objects at 35,000 feet. Media reports quoted him calling them “two small ships and the mothership.”

    After about six minutes he radioed the FAA in Anchorage, which saw the objects on its radar and advised him to take evasive action. Terauchi descended and circled, but said the lights stayed with the plane for about 400 miles, moving quickly and stopping suddenly. At the time, news reports said the FAA saw objects near the plane even after his maneuvers.

    On later review, military radar images were dismissed as clutter, and an object seen on the FAA's screens was judged a split image of the aircraft. Fairbanks controllers saw only the 747. A United Airlines flight and a U.S. Air Force C-130 nearby reported seeing nothing, visually or on radar. FAA investigators found the crew to be professional and rational. Editor Philip Klass said that Jupiter and Mars were in the area where the two lights appeared. Some astronomers agree, though the pilot and others have rejected the explanation.

    Sources: Wikipedia: Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1628

    Historical case. This is a summary written by the Department from the published sources listed above, in our own words. It is a historical case added to the map for context, not a reader submission. Reports are claims or findings as described in those sources; they are not proof of anything, and where an official or widely accepted explanation exists we say so. For entertainment and curiosity only. Spotted a mistake, or know more? Add a verification note below, or email paranormaldepartment1@gmail.com.

    📍 See this case on the map. Were you nearby, or can you explain it? Add a verification note below — notes are read by a person before they appear.

  • The Gulf Breeze Sightings — Gulf Breeze, FL (1987–88)

    The Gulf Breeze Sightings — Gulf Breeze, FL (1987–88)

    Historical case When: November 11, 1987 – May 1988  ·  Where: Gulf Breeze, Florida

    Status: Explained — widely suspected hoax; a reporter reproduced the photographs with a foam model found in the photographer's former house.

    Photograph of a small white saucer-shaped model displayed in a case
    The Gulf Breeze UFO model on display, photographed in 2024 by Tbrighamphd.
    Credit: Tbrighamphd (own work, 2024) · Licence: CC0 (public domain dedication, Wikimedia Commons) · Source

    The Gulf Breeze sightings began on November 11, 1987, when local contractor Ed Walters said a blue beam briefly immobilized him and he took five Polaroid photographs of an object hovering about 200 feet above the ground near his home. Photos were published in the community newspaper Gulf Breeze Sentinel.

    Walters said he made many more sightings, taking 32 photographs and some videotape over the following months, and nineteen encounters were reported by him or his family. He also claimed to have communicated with aliens. After the publicity, other residents came forward with reports of UFOs in the area. Researchers such as physicist Bruce Maccabee believed the photographs were genuine, but others strongly suspected a hoax.

    In 1990, after the Walters family had moved, the new owners of their house found a styrofoam model of a UFO in the attic. Pensacola News Journal reporter Craig Myers investigated and was able to duplicate the objects in the photographs almost exactly using the model. Walters later claimed that the model had been “planted.” The case remains a much-discussed example of how photographic evidence can be tested. The model is now on public display.

    Sources: Wikipedia: Gulf Breeze UFO incident

    Historical case. This is a summary written by the Department from the published sources listed above, in our own words. It is a historical case added to the map for context, not a reader submission. Reports are claims or findings as described in those sources; they are not proof of anything, and where an official or widely accepted explanation exists we say so. For entertainment and curiosity only. Spotted a mistake, or know more? Add a verification note below, or email paranormaldepartment1@gmail.com.

    📍 See this case on the map. Were you nearby, or can you explain it? Add a verification note below — notes are read by a person before they appear.

  • The Phoenix Lights — Phoenix, AZ (1997)

    Historical case When: March 13, 1997  ·  Where: Phoenix, Arizona

    Status: Explained — attributed to A-10 aircraft in formation and flares dropped during Air National Guard training (Operation Snowbird); many witnesses dispute this.

    On the evening of March 13, 1997, between about 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. MST, lights of varying descriptions were seen over a stretch of about 300 miles, from the Nevada line through Phoenix to the edge of Tucson. Some witnesses described a huge carpenter's-square shaped craft with five round lights. There were two distinct events: a triangular formation of lights moving across the state, and a series of stationary lights in the Phoenix area.

    The sightings began at 7:55 p.m. with a Henderson, Nevada witness who reported a large V-shaped object heading southeast. Later, the Ley family, who first saw the lights from about 65 miles away, described five lights in an arc that eventually resolved into a huge dark shape passing silently overhead.

    Both events were later attributed to aircraft in Operation Snowbird, a winter pilot training program run by the Air National Guard out of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson. The first group of lights was identified as a formation of A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft returning to base, and the second as illumination flares dropped by other A-10s on the Barry Goldwater Range. Arizona governor Fife Symington later recounted seeing the lights and called them “otherworldly.” Many witnesses still disagree with the official explanation.

    Sources: Wikipedia: Phoenix Lights

    Historical case. This is a summary written by the Department from the published sources listed above, in our own words. It is a historical case added to the map for context, not a reader submission. Reports are claims or findings as described in those sources; they are not proof of anything, and where an official or widely accepted explanation exists we say so. For entertainment and curiosity only. Spotted a mistake, or know more? Add a verification note below, or email paranormaldepartment1@gmail.com.

    📍 See this case on the map. Were you nearby, or can you explain it? Add a verification note below — notes are read by a person before they appear.

  • The Stephenville Lights — Stephenville, TX (2008)

    Historical case When: January 8, 2008  ·  Where: Stephenville, Texas

    Status: Explained (officially) — the Air Force Reserve said F-16s were training in the area. Some witnesses and researchers dispute that this accounts for everything.

    In January 2008, dozens of people in and around Stephenville, Texas, reported seeing patterns of lights in the night sky. Some described a single large unidentified object, and local constable Lee Roy Gaitan, among others, gave interviews to national media as the small town became known around the world.

    The Air Force Reserve later issued a statement from NAS Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base that F-16s of the 457th Fighter Squadron had been in military airspace designated for training when people reported the lights. An FAA email later showed two groups of F-16s on radar at about 6:17 and 6:26 p.m. local time.

    MUFON collected dozens of witness reports, and independent researchers analyzed radar data and said some tracks lacked transponders. Whether the training flights fully explain the reports is still debated. The town has since embraced the attention, selling T-shirts that call Erath County the “new Roswell.”

    Sources: Wikipedia: Stephenville, Texas — Stephenville lights

    Historical case. This is a summary written by the Department from the published sources listed above, in our own words. It is a historical case added to the map for context, not a reader submission. Reports are claims or findings as described in those sources; they are not proof of anything, and where an official or widely accepted explanation exists we say so. For entertainment and curiosity only. Spotted a mistake, or know more? Add a verification note below, or email paranormaldepartment1@gmail.com.

    📍 See this case on the map. Were you nearby, or can you explain it? Add a verification note below — notes are read by a person before they appear.

  • The “GoFast” Video — U.S. East Coast (2015)

    The “GoFast” Video — U.S. East Coast (2015)

    Historical case When: 2015  ·  Where: Atlantic Ocean, off the U.S. East Coast (approximate)

    Status: Resolved by AARO (2025) — assessed as showing no anomalous speed or behavior; the apparent speed is an effect of the aircraft's own motion.

    GOFAST — official Department of Defense video (34 s), posted on DVIDS by AARO in 2025.
    Credit: U.S. Navy / Department of Defense (via DVIDS, video ID 956683) · Licence: Public domain (U.S. government work) · Source

    The “GoFast” video is a 34-second infrared clip recorded by the aircrew of a Navy F/A-18F in 2015, associated with the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group's operations off the East Coast. It shows a small object that seems to skim just above the sea surface at high speed while the camera tracks it, and aircrew can be heard reacting. The Pentagon released it officially in 2020.

    The clip's apparent speed made it famous, but the video alone does not show speed. In February 2025, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) published an analysis of the sensor data. It estimated that the object was at about 13,000 feet, that it appeared to move at roughly 72 to 161 mph, and that its actual speed, once wind was taken into account, was much lower, in the range of about 5 to 92 mph. AARO said the object generally moved with the wind, never against it, and that the sense of speed came from the camera's own motion relative to the object, known as parallax.

    AARO's pixel analysis suggested that the object was one meter or less across, which it described as comparable to a small drone or bird. AARO found no anomalous performance characteristics.

    Sources: DVIDS: GOFAST — UAP · AARO: Official UAP imagery

    Historical case. This is a summary written by the Department from the published sources listed above, in our own words. It is a historical case added to the map for context, not a reader submission. Reports are claims or findings as described in those sources; they are not proof of anything, and where an official or widely accepted explanation exists we say so. For entertainment and curiosity only. Spotted a mistake, or know more? Add a verification note below, or email paranormaldepartment1@gmail.com.

    📍 See this case on the map. Were you nearby, or can you explain it? Add a verification note below — notes are read by a person before they appear.