Reader Stories

Dear UFO Files Watch,

I've never written to a website before, but I feel like I have to share this somewhere that people will actually take it seriously.

In August 2023 I was out on my back porch just past midnight when I noticed an orange-white light moving low over the tree line to the north. I live about 20 miles from Lake Erie and I've watched plenty of planes on their way into Cleveland Hopkins, so I know what they look like. This was not that.

It moved in ways no aircraft I've ever seen could manage — instantaneous direction changes, no sound whatsoever, and at one point it simply stopped and held perfectly still for nearly three minutes before accelerating straight up and vanishing.

I watched it for about 45 minutes total. My husband came out and saw the last few minutes of it. We filed a report with NUFORC but felt like it disappeared into a database somewhere.

Finding your site and reading through the actual government documents — especially the AARO reporting data — has genuinely helped me understand what I saw in a broader context. Thank you for doing this work without sensationalizing it.

Margaret T. Columbus, Ohio

Hello,

I spent 20 years as a radar technician in the United States Air Force. I'm not going to share classified details — I wouldn't do that — but I want to tell you that your website is doing something genuinely rare: treating this subject with intellectual honesty.

As a former radar tech I can tell you: there are things we tracked that had no explanation. The instinct in military culture is to write those incidents up in a way that doesn't attract attention, not because of a grand conspiracy, but because unexplained things make paperwork complicated. That's it.

What I appreciate about UFO Files Watch is that you publish the actual government documents and let people read them. Dr. Voss's analysis is grounded and careful. You're not telling people what to think.

I've forwarded your site to several former colleagues. Keep doing exactly what you're doing.

Derek M. San Antonio, Texas USAF, Ret.

Hi there,

I teach high school physics and I've been looking for a resource that covers the UAP topic seriously — meaning with actual documentation, without the tabloid framing, and without either dismissing everything or claiming aliens are confirmed.

UFO Files Watch is exactly that. I've started recommending it to students who ask about the topic, especially your explanations of what the government documents actually say versus what headlines claim they say.

Dr. Voss's blog posts are particularly good for this — she writes in a way that's rigorous but accessible to a curious 16-year-old. The breakdown of AARO's reporting methodology was especially useful in a recent class discussion about how we evaluate evidence.

Thank you for building this. It fills a real gap.

Priya S. Boston, Massachusetts

To the team at UFO Files Watch,

I fly 737s commercially and have for the past 14 years. Pilots don't talk about this stuff publicly because the professional risk is real — you get labeled immediately.

But I'll say in an email what I won't say at the gate: what the Nimitz pilots reported is not something that can be attributed to instrument error or atmospheric phenomena. The multi-sensor corroboration in that case — radar, FLIR, visual from multiple aircraft — is exactly the kind of data we'd treat as conclusive in any other context. The fact that the object exhibited performance characteristics outside known physics is worth serious scientific attention, not ridicule.

I've been waiting for a site like yours. The fact that you publish the actual FOIA releases and official reports rather than just referencing them vaguely is exactly what this conversation needs.

Please keep going. This matters.

James W. Austin, Texas

Dear UFO Files Watch,

I grew up three miles from Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque. My father worked there as a civilian contractor for many years. The things I saw as a child that I was told to forget — I'm glad there's finally a place to understand them.

I'm 61 now. I've watched this topic go from laughed-at to congressional hearings in my lifetime. What your site does — pulling together the actual documents, the timelines, the testimony — helps me put pieces together that I've been carrying for decades.

I don't need anyone to tell me what I saw. I just want the historical record to be honest. From everything I've read on your site, that seems to be your goal too.

Thank you sincerely, Carol R. Albuquerque, New Mexico

Hello from the UK,

I follow UAP developments closely from Manchester and I want to say that UFO Files Watch has become my go-to reference. The US disclosure process is being watched closely over here — we have our own unresolved cases — and your site is the clearest window into what's actually in the American public record that I've found anywhere.

I particularly appreciate that you contextualise the documents. When something is redacted, you note it. When an agency's explanation seems incomplete, Dr. Voss says so while being careful not to overclaim.

The blog series on Project Blue Book through to AARO was excellent. I shared it with our local UAP research group and it generated a good two-hour discussion.

World-class resource. Thank you.

Tom H. Manchester, UK

Hi,

I'm a registered nurse and not someone who would describe themselves as having unusual beliefs. I'm practical, I'm trained to observe carefully, and I'm skeptical by nature.

In the summer of 2019 I was hiking near Mount Hood with two friends when all three of us observed an object performing maneuvers that we spent the rest of the trip trying to explain rationally. We couldn't. It moved with a kind of geometric precision that felt almost deliberate, and then it was simply gone — no fade, no disappearance into cloud cover, just gone.

What I saw that day fundamentally changed how I think about what we know and don't know about our world. Your site helps me feel less alone in that and, more importantly, helps me stay connected to actual evidence rather than speculation.

Keep doing what you're doing. It matters more than you might realize.

Linda F., RN Portland, Oregon

Hello UFO Files Watch team,

I'm a software engineer by profession and an amateur astronomer by hobby — so I spend a fair amount of time looking at the sky and I have some understanding of what normal looks like.

Two things I want to say: First, as someone in tech I appreciate how well-organized your data is. The search functionality, the timeline, the way documents are summarized and linked to originals — this is genuinely well-built. Whoever designed this clearly cares about usability.

Second, and more importantly: as someone who cares about intellectual honesty, I deeply appreciate that you don't pretend to know more than the evidence supports. "Unexplained does not mean extraterrestrial" — I saw that in your footer and it honestly made me trust everything else on the site more.

The UAP conversation needs more of this. Thank you.

Raj K. Seattle, Washington

To whoever runs UFO Files Watch,

I am 74 years old and I have been interested in this subject since Roswell was actually in the news — not a documentary about it, the original news coverage when I was a small child. I have followed this topic through every era of official denial, ridicule, and now, apparently, official acknowledgment.

Your website is the best resource I have found in seven decades of paying attention to this. The fact that you link directly to government documents and explain what they say is something I have wished for my entire life. No more second-hand summaries and telephone-game distortions.

I have sent your link to my entire book club. Several of them have already written back to thank me.

With gratitude, Helen B. Tucson, Arizona

Hi,

I'm a journalist covering defense and national security topics and I wanted to reach out because your site has actually been useful in a professional context, which is not something I expected.

Your archive of primary source documents — with direct links to the originals and clear sourcing information — has saved me hours of FOIA research on more than one occasion. When a new UAP-related story breaks, your timeline and document archive is one of the first places I check to understand the historical context.

Dr. Voss's analysis is also well-sourced in a way that makes it easy to verify independently. That's rarer than it should be in this space.

I've bookmarked the site permanently and recommended it to several colleagues. Good work.

Marcus O. Chicago, Illinois