CALIFORNIA — Strange sightings over the skies in California over the past half-century may not be fully explained by the release of a batch of files on unidentified flying objects, but they do add intrigue to reports in a national database
The National UFO Reporting Center, founded by noted UFO investigator Robert J. Gribble in 1974, lists over 17,000 reports over many decades, including 80 as of 2026. The inventory includes sightings before Gribble created the database.
The report released Friday by the Pentagon includes files in which Buzz Aldrin described a “fairly bright light” while aboard Apollo; a mysterious object skimming the Aegean Sea that made “multiple 90-degree turns” at a speedy clip; and a glaringly bright object doing corkscrew twists over the skies in Kazakhstan.
In 2026 sightings, the sightings in California, reported to NUFORC, have included cigar-shaped objects, flat panels that rotate, fireballs that change direction and even whirling pink and white orbs. Here are a few of our favorites:
In January, a Lake Elsinore resident noticed a strange object, believed to be a meteor, falling from the sky. According to the video shared from the scene, that object came to a stop and began floating side to side. “I was with another person who witnessed the same thing I saw,” the witness wrote. Then it was abruptly gone, the video here shows. “The entire event lasted approximately 30 seconds from first appearance to disappearance.”
In February, at the Fresno Zoo, a witness spied a light traveling from the north.
“It hovered above a few of the animal exhibits at the Fresno-Chaffee Zoo, visible from the Flamingo and the Stingray Bay exhibits. It flew at a steady speed (similar to a helicopter) and at a 70-degree angle from my perspective. It might have been flying 200-300 feet above the zoo,” they said. “Another witness watched it disappear over the giraffe habitat savanna, but was unsure what to think about it as it was farther away at the time.” This witness had the sensation that someone was “watching them,” and that the animals appeared to recognize this. Was someone watching? Possibly, researchers at the NUFOC say, as they determined that the object was perfectly timed with the International Space Station’s overhead flight.
In March, a Mendocino couple returning home from dinner witnessed lights over the Pacific Ocean. “We both saw what looked like pulsating colored lights concentrated together. They would flash different colors at different times in a sort of flickering pattern,” the witness said. “At first, we thought it was a star, but it was too close and in our atmosphere. I watched it for what seemed to be an hour. It just flickered and pulsated. Then, all of a sudden, it took off in a sort of white streak. Gone in what I would call a millisecond. I've never encountered anything like it in my life.”
April sightings were reported in the cities of Menifee, Santee, Ojai, Chula Vista, Jamestown and the Antelope Valley, among other places. In Rancho Palos Verdes, a family saw orbs off the Pacific coast.
“I was letting my dogs out, I saw two giant orange orbs almost touching, not moving,” the witness wrote. “There was no sound from the object, about 1500 feet above the ocean. “It was maybe a half mile to a mile offshore, where it remained in place for 45 to 60 seconds. Then, its brightness faded, and it seemed to get smaller, collapsing in on itself before zipping away at extreme speed, they said. “Nothing was left, like they were never there.”
May has also seen its share of sightings in Menifee, Monterey, Oceanside, Pioneertown and San Bernardino. Of those, a fireball-type experience has been verified by numerous witnesses, according to NUFORC.
This one, seen from Dana Point to Menifee, was bigger than a plane, not including the fiery tail.
“At first, I thought it was a shooting star, but it never changed color,” they wrote. It did, however, change direction with a clear fire trail behind it.
“I was facing west when I spotted a bright light appear out of nowhere in the sky,” the witness said. “I could see the tail behind.” The witness began recording the object, which remained bright and changed direction. “It eventually flew behind the mountain and didn’t appear again. When I searched the direction the object was possibly flying over, I found it was towards Dana Point.”
The Pentagon’s release of the previously classified files taps into the public’s long-held curiosities about “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” or UAP, in the broader universe.
The Pentagon has spent years declassifying UFO-related documents, following a 2022 congressional mandate. A 2024 report detailed hundreds of UAP incidents but found no evidence of alien technology. Despite this, some Republican lawmakers claim the Pentagon is withholding information and continue to push for greater transparency.
The new Pentagon website housing the documents on UAPs has a decidedly retro feel, with black-and-white military imagery of flying objects displayed prominently on the page, with statements displayed in typewriter-like font.
The files reflect cases that the government deems unresolved, meaning that for a variety of reasons, they couldn’t be explained with certainty. The Pentagon described the files as new and “never-before-seen,” though some had been made public years ago.
Experts urge caution around the release of the new files, warning that UAP videos are often misinterpreted and mischaracterized by those unfamiliar with military technology. A 2024 Pentagon report rebutted claims that the U.S. government has recovered alien technology or confirmed evidence of alien life.
The initial release is a trove of videos, other imagery and testimony that is sure to stir more speculation among those who believe we are not alone in the universe.
For example, a U.S. intelligence official recalled encountering a “super-hot” orb during a helicopter search last year. The orb hovered over the ground, sped roughly 20 miles away, and was followed by four or five more orbs that flared up and down.
Another document detailed an FBI interview with a drone pilot who reported seeing a glowing “linear object” in September 2023 that was bright enough to “see bands within the light.” The object vanished seconds later.
The files also include a 1972 NASA photo from the Apollo 17 mission showing three dots in triangular formation. A Pentagon caption said there was “no consensus about the nature of the anomaly,” though a preliminary analysis suggested it could be a “physical object.”
More than 20 military videos show unidentified objects captured by sensors from Syria and Japan to North America, including a football-shaped object over the East China Sea in 2022 and two circular lights filmed over North America on Jan. 1 this year.
Other reports describe ambiguous white objects streaking across skies in Iraq, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. One 2023 report described a “bouncy ball”-shaped object traveling 483 mph over Syria for at least seven minutes before later being deemed benign.
Hundreds of pages detail sightings dating to the 1940s, including a 1948 report from U.S. airmen in the Netherlands describing recurring “flying saucer” sightings that Swedish officials said did not appear to come from “any presently known culture on earth.”
One video drawing attention on Friday appeared to show an eight-pointed star-shaped craft weaving through the air over the Middle East in 2013. But Sean Kirkpatrick, former head of the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, said it was likely a hot jet engine creating a diffraction pattern in the camera.
Kirkpatrick said there’s nothing unexpected in the release and warned that without analysis it will “only serve to fuel more speculation, conspiracy and armchair pseudoscience.”
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
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