THINK ABOUTIT UFO SIGHTINGS REPORT

2008: The Southern California V-Shaped Mass Sighting

On the night of November 14, 2008, an enormous V-shaped or triangular formation of dim red lights crossed the sky over a huge swath of the Los Angeles basin, and at least four separate, unconnected witness groups, spread from Santa Clarita in the north to Long Beach in the south, a corridor of roughly 30 miles, independently reported watching it. Every account describes the same core details: a lumbering, almost impossibly slow pace; an object or formation “several hundred feet across, minimum”; dim red lights along the leading edge; and, in more than one account, an eerie sense that conventional physics didn’t seem to apply to something that size moving that slowly without falling. One family’s dog went into a barking, leash-straining panic the moment the object came into view. None of the witnesses knew each other when they filed their reports.

Date: November 14, 2008

Sighting Time: Just after 8:00 p.m. (Santa Clarita/San Fernando Valley account); approximately 8:00–8:30 p.m. (Calabasas); shortly after 8:00 p.m. (Long Beach, following a period of sky-watching); approximately 6:42 p.m. (fourth witness, West Los Angeles, a discrepancy from the other three accounts’ timing that is preserved as reported)

Day/Night: Night

Location: Multiple locations across the Los Angeles basin: Woodlake Avenue and Saticoy Boulevard, Santa Clarita/San Fernando Valley; Calabasas; Long Beach; and a location approximately 6 to 7 miles west of downtown Los Angeles

Urban or Rural: Urban

No. of Entity(s): Not Applicable

Entity Type: Not Applicable

Entity Description: Not Applicable

Hynek Classification: NL — Nocturnal Light. A large, extended, structured luminous formation observed at night across multiple, widely separated locations.

Duration: Approximately 20–30 seconds (Santa Clarita/San Fernando Valley); approximately 10–20 minutes (Long Beach, the longest sustained observation); duration undocumented for the Calabasas and fourth accounts

No. of Object(s): Reported and interpreted differently across accounts: a single V-shaped craft (Santa Clarita/San Fernando Valley, fourth witness) versus a single triangular craft with visible internal structure (Long Beach); whether this represents one solid craft or a tight formation of multiple light sources is explicitly unresolved in this entry (see Researcher’s Notes)

Description of the Object(s): A very large V-shaped or triangular formation, described by the primary Santa Clarita witness as “several hundred feet across, minimum,” moving with almost no forward speed, low enough in the sky to rule out a satellite but too slow and silent for any known aircraft; dim, star-intensity red lights outlined the leading edges or undersides in every account; a reddish glow or shimmer was visible along the underside in the Santa Clarita account, with faint structural detail barely visible through it; the Long Beach witness, viewing through high-powered binoculars, described far greater structural detail: a smaller, roughly quarter-sized “command center” section at the front with two to four visible levels, two rows of bright white lit windows wrapping partway around it, and two structured openings on the underside resembling docking bays for smaller craft, with the rear three-quarters of the object appearing to “mirror” the night sky, rendering it nearly invisible except for its lights

Shape of Object(s): V-shaped / triangular, described across accounts as boomerang-like from some angles

Size of Object(s): Estimated at several hundred feet across at minimum by the primary witness; described as comparable in scale to a large flying-wing bomber design by the fourth witness; the Long Beach witness described it as enormous, with a “command center” section alone appearing substantial

Color of Object(s): Dim, star-intensity red lights (all accounts); a reddish glow/shimmer on the underside (Santa Clarita); bright white light from window-like openings (Long Beach)

Distance to Object(s): Undocumented precisely in any account; the fourth witness noted an inability to establish scale due to the absence of any reference object, a limitation likely shared by the other witnesses

Height & Speed: High altitude with an almost total lack of forward speed, prompting more than one witness to independently suspect a lighter-than-air vehicle if the object were of ordinary size; described in the fourth account as moving no faster than a jet at 40,000 feet would appear, despite the witness’s belief it was closer and larger; the Santa Clarita witness noted the object vanished from view within about 5 seconds of being obscured by a tree, with no apparent physical obstruction to account for its disappearance

Number of Witnesses: At least 4 independent witness parties across widely separated locations: the primary Santa Clarita/San Fernando Valley witness and his girlfriend (2); a Calabasas family (multiple, unspecified number); a Long Beach family of at least 4 (mother, husband, and two sons), one of whom, per her own account, works as a technical advisor on military and police matters for film and television, with her husband employed by the Department of Defense; and a fourth witness in West Los Angeles who observed alone with his dog

Special Features/Characteristics: The primary witness, a self-described lifelong aviation enthusiast confident in his ability to identify conventional aircraft, was frightened enough by the sighting to feel compelled to report it despite a stated history of skepticism toward others’ UFO claims; the object crossed near the flight paths of aircraft approaching both Van Nuys and Los Angeles International airports without, per witness accounts, any apparent awareness or response from conventional air traffic; the Long Beach family’s dog reacted with visible panic, straining at its leash and whining, with other neighborhood dogs barking as well; the object reportedly did not block out background starlight as it passed, per the fourth witness’s specific observation; multiple witnesses independently searched the internet afterward in an attempt to find corroborating reports and eventually connected with one another; no contemporaneous local television news coverage of the event has been identified despite witness attempts to notify at least one station

Case Status: Unexplained — though this designation should be read alongside a serious, unresolved competing hypothesis: this genre of giant, slow-moving, dimly-lit “boomerang” or triangle sighting has, in other well-documented historical cases (notably the 1980s Hudson Valley, New York sightings), later been attributed by multiple pilots to tight formations of small aircraft flying in coordinated pattern rather than a single solid craft, a possibility this entry does not rule out

Source: UFO Casebook (originally posted to MUFON); UFOs Northwest; UFO Info

Summary/Description: On the night of November 14, 2008, an enormous, slow-moving, V-shaped or triangular formation of dim red lights was independently observed and reported by at least four separate witness parties spread across a roughly 30-mile corridor of the Los Angeles basin, from Santa Clarita to Long Beach. All accounts describe an object of extraordinary apparent size moving at a speed inconsistent with any known conventional aircraft, outlined by dim red lights, with one witness using high-powered binoculars reporting additional structural detail including lit windows and docking-bay-like openings. The witnesses did not know each other and connected only after independently searching online for corroborating reports in the days and weeks following the sighting.

Related Cases: This sighting fits within the broader, internationally documented “black triangle”/giant boomerang UFO genre, which includes the 1983–1986 Hudson Valley, New York sightings (later linked by several pilots to coordinated formations of small aircraft), the 1997 Phoenix Lights, and the January 5, 2000 Illinois Triangle case involving multiple police officers

Full Report

Witness One: Santa Clarita/San Fernando Valley (Woodlake Ave. and Saticoy Blvd.)

My girlfriend and I were leaving her house to go to dinner just after 8:00 p.m. at Woodlake Ave. and Saticoy Blvd. Both of us were seated in my convertible with the top down. I remember there were terrible brush fires just to the north of us near Santa Clarita and the smell of smoke was heavy in the air.

Before I started my car to back out of her driveway I noticed an unusually large object in the northeastern sky that caught my attention. I have always been an airplane buff; I spent hours as a kid listening to my aircraft radio, always at the end of some runway, always one eye toward the sky, built untold plastic models. So I know planes and can spot and classify military aircraft on sight. I have been to untold air shows and really enjoy the most exotic of aircraft, and what I saw that Friday evening frightened the hell out of me.

I pointed it out to my girlfriend and she asked what it was; I replied, “Looks like a friggin’ UFO to me, babe!” Just between her and her neighbor’s house, low in the northeastern sky from up here in the foothills, an absolutely enormous V-shaped craft was lazily headed due north. Its lack of forward speed almost suggested a lighter-than-air vehicle if it was a reasonably sized craft, but I knew what I was seeing was either a distorted sense of scale, or this “V” had to be several hundred feet across minimum!

There were numerous red lights visible from the lower rear, three-quarter view we had, so we were at its “8 o’clock low” from its vantage. As far as the number of lights I cannot say for certain; I am now uncertain if they lined the forward leading edge perimeter, or were line abreast across the bottom surface at a right angle to the center line of the V. There was a reddish glow emanating or reflecting off of the bottom, almost a shimmering, with some intricate fine detail barely visible underneath, which I first attributed to reflection from the nearby forest fire. There were no visible means of propulsion evident.

I cannot stress the lumbering slow movement of this object away from us, and when it passed behind a neighbor’s leafless tree, I quickly sped 30 feet out of the driveway to gain a better unobstructed vantage again, away from the tree. No more than five seconds, it was gone. I could not see any possible obstruction that could have prevented visual reacquisition. It just vanished.

My girlfriend remembers being very aware then of numerous private and light commercial traffic in the sky, as there is always in the vicinity of Van Nuys airport. I had this impression as well, but felt it was a result of such intense target fixation observing the object, then having no stimulus directly forward, that tends to widen your perception from the tunnel vision we experienced.

I wish I could say I photographed my sighting, but there are seldom good cameras when you need them around. I did make a crude animated .gif file the very next day to try and record the event to the best of my and my girlfriend’s recollection.

I didn’t come forward earlier because I have always scoffed and outwardly derided people who have claimed to have witnessed things like I now have. I didn’t want to be “one of those people,” but I am now. I’m not going to pilgrimage out to Roswell or claim abduction stories, but I will share what I saw, and know to be seen by at least me and my girlfriend.

Lastly, this was above a major population area of more than 1.8 million in the valley alone, within easy visual range of one of the busiest private aviation airports in the world, Van Nuys airport. It doesn’t add up.

Witness Two: Calabasas (Gina B.)

In response to your story about the V-shaped UFO over So Cal on November 14th, 2008, my family and I also saw it that night from our back deck in Calabasas. I immediately reported it to MUFON, and later spoke to them by phone. I also reported it to some other online sites.

For the next few days I searched the internet for others who may have seen it, but was unsuccessful. I did find a video shot on November 13th, 2007, a year earlier, taken by two young women on their way from San Diego to Bakersfield off the 5 Freeway. It showed the exact same craft we saw.

Earlier this month I was searching again, and came across others who saw the triangle on November 14th. One report was from a family of four in Long Beach, in which one observer, a woman who is a technical advisor for military and police for film and television, saw the craft through high-powered binoculars. It completely blew me away. She describes it as something out of “Battlestar Galactica,” complete with multi-level docking ports. She includes drawings in her post.

I have contacted her by phone and email, and found out that her husband works for the Department of Defense. I believe that their description, along with my own testimony and that of three others in my group, as well as a couple in West LA, and now the two women in your story, makes this a compelling sighting.

Witness Three: Long Beach

I can’t believe it! My kids and I had just returned from speaking with a neighbor and walking the dog to find my husband watering the grass. We hung out with him for a couple of minutes before my son Shannon, whom I sky-watch with every night for an hour or two, our hobby, said, “Hey mom, a triangle!”

It took about 20 to 30 seconds for me to see it, because other than the front, which I initially mistook as an airplane, only the small red running lights were visible, giving the craft the appearance of a boomerang. But I saw the back lights too, and this was a full triangle. From our perspective, we saw it travel from over the ocean (southwest) toward the Long Beach airport area (northeast), and it looked like a triangle in perspective, so the sides were not equal. It was huge.

It was at a rather high altitude compared to the other aircraft in the sky, and I looked at it through high-quality binoculars. The front of the craft, without help, could have been mistaken for a C-130 or C-17 with all of its lights on. When looking at it with the binoculars, it was something out of Battlestar Galactica. I kid you not. It was multi-leveled and seemed to have two docking stations or something on the underside of the front, which was only about a quarter the size of the rest of it.

The “command center,” for lack of a better description, was huge in its own right. The sides had at least two, but up to four or five floors, two bright rows of what looked like windows with brilliant white light coming out of them, seeming to wrap around the front. It looked like nothing I have seen in all of my 41 years. The bottom of the command center had two structured holes that appeared to be parking structures for smaller scout craft, though this is speculation. I could faintly make out floors inside those holes, about as large as a third of the front of the ship.

It was too large and going far too slowly to stay in the sky, so conventional physics, as we know it, did not apply to this craft, whatever it was. It floated gracefully and very slowly. It also seemed to be utilizing some kind of cloaking technology, because the back three-quarters of the ship mirrored the night sky, so if it wasn’t for the running lights, we would not have seen more than the front part, which appeared, to the naked eye, to be a large jet. The binoculars made the difference. Our sighting lasted about 10 to 20 minutes.

Shortly after we spotted it, our dog went nuts. He was still on his leash, attached to the tow hitch on the back of my car, and he pulled and pulled, whining and barking to get away. My husband and Shannon went to get him while my youngest son and I continued to watch on top of our car until it went out of sight. Other dogs were barking too.

This was the most spectacular thing I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been looking all over the internet to find anyone else who may have seen this. My husband works in law enforcement for the Department of Defense, and I am in police and military technical advising for television and film, just so you are aware. We both have extensive knowledge of conventional and some unconventional aircraft, and this was like nothing we’ve ever seen.

Witness Four: West Los Angeles (Mark)

I was walking my Scotty dog after dark at 6:42 and looked up in the sky and saw a large V-shaped grouping of lights; it seemed about six or so starlight-intensity lights on each side of the leading edges of the wings of the “V.” The only thing I can compare it to would be the flying wing bombers of the 1950s, except all I saw were the lights. I first thought it was a jet, but it was too big, flying too slowly, and not making any noise for it to be that close to the ground if it was that close.

There was no way to scale the object, which was frustrating. I held on to a light pole to steady myself as I watched it fly from south to a north/slightly northeast direction. The only speed I could compare it to would be a jet at cruising altitude of 40,000 feet, so it seemed to be flying somewhat slowly; at that height its size would be very small.

The lights were the color of dim starlight, so it wasn’t something that would stand out and would be easily overlooked unless you had the fortunate opportunity to look directly at it. I saw it at an angle of about 70 degrees, 20 degrees west from straight up. It did have red blinking lights at the ends of the wings, one on the far wing, and two blinking red lights on the side closest to me. My location is about six to seven miles west of downtown Los Angeles, and there are a lot of planes in the sky there normally.

The object crossed the flight path of planes landing at LAX coming in from the ocean before they turn over downtown LA to fly into the airport. I thought planes in the air would have had to have seen it; how could they not, unless it was higher than they were.

One thing I made sure to do was see if the object would block out any stars or starlight it passed under. The starlight was not blocked out, even between the lights at the leading edge. I can only assume the lights were on the leading edge, but maybe they were at the bottom, as it passed from view at about 30 degrees from the horizon. Deciduous trees were beginning to hide it from view as well.

A few minutes prior, a neighbor with his dog was walking away from the object’s direction, and a jogger was also headed away as well; they both passed us and disappeared from view. When I saw it, I was totally alone except for the dog.

It seemed somewhat majestic and beautiful, slowly flying across the sky. My nickname for it is also “Battlestar Galactica,” and I have referred to it as that since I saw it. I only recently read the other people’s descriptions, the people from the San Fernando Valley and the family from Long Beach, so I am another who can be added to the list. It was unbelievable that the San Fernando Valley witness was describing the direction and time frame of the object as it passed from the south, where I was, to the north, where they were, within the approximate time frames.

I called a local television station and talked to someone there about it, expecting other callers, but it was never mentioned on the news that night.

RESEARCHER’S NOTES

November 14, 2008 — A Genuine Multi-Location Mass Sighting, and the Formation-Flying Question

• Independent multi-location corroboration is the case’s core strength. Four unconnected witness parties, separated by up to 30 miles, reported the same core details (V/triangle shape, dim red lights, extreme apparent size, lumbering slow movement) on the same night, without knowing of each other’s reports until searching independently online afterward. This kind of geographically distributed, mutually unaware corroboration is genuinely rare and carries real evidentiary weight, largely independent of what any single account claims.
• The formation-flying hypothesis deserves serious, direct consideration. This genre of giant, dimly-lit, extremely slow-moving “boomerang” sighting has a documented precedent in the 1983–1986 Hudson Valley, New York sightings, which several pilots eventually attributed to tight, coordinated formations of small private or ultralight aircraft, their individual running lights merging into the visual impression of one enormous solid object at night, particularly to observers without a reliable object for scale. The near-total absence of forward speed multiple witnesses independently noted, combined with the total absence of confirmable scale in every account, fits a formation-of-small-aircraft explanation at least as well as it fits a single giant craft.
• The Long Beach witness’s binocular-observed structural detail is the strongest point of friction against the formation hypothesis. Distinguishing individual “floors,” lit windows, and docking-bay-like openings through binoculars is a level of structural detail considerably beyond what a formation of aircraft lights, however tight, would typically produce. At the same time, pattern-matching (perceiving structured detail in an excited, high-stakes viewing of distant lights at night, especially through magnifying optics) is a well-documented perceptual phenomenon, and this entry does not treat the binocular account as conclusively ruling out the formation-flying explanation, only as a genuine complicating factor against it.
• The Long Beach witness’s stated professional background is worth noting without overweighting it. Her self-described work as a technical advisor on military and police matters for film and television, and her husband’s employment with the Department of Defense, are relevant credentials for assessing her familiarity with aircraft, but this entry does not treat professional background as independently verified, since no confirmation beyond the witness’s own account has been located.
• The fourth witness’s date discrepancy is flagged, not silently resolved. The original source material dates this account to “March 14, 2008,” which conflicts directly with the witness’s own explicit cross-references to the November 14 San Fernando Valley and Long Beach accounts and the same MUFON case number. This is presented here as a probable transcription error rather than corrected outright, consistent with this archive’s practice of flagging rather than silently altering source discrepancies.
• No air traffic control or news corroboration has been identified. Despite the object’s reported proximity to the flight paths of two major airports (Van Nuys and LAX) and at least one witness’s direct call to a local television station, no independent air traffic report, FAA record, or news broadcast covering the event has been located for this entry.

On a single November night, something enormous, dim, red-lit, and almost impossibly slow crossed thirty miles of Los Angeles sky, watched independently by at least four groups of strangers who had no idea, until they went looking weeks later, that anyone else had seen the same thing. Whether it was one vast craft or a tight formation of ordinary aircraft merging into a single silhouette at night remains the honest open question at the center of this case. Both readings deserve to be weighed, and neither has been confirmed.

“It was too large and going far too slow to stay in the sky, so conventional physics, as we know it, did not apply to this craft.”

— Long Beach witness, November 14, 2008