As those of you who
visit here regularly know, I do something that I call chasing footnotes. Sometimes
it’s just chasing references to find the original source. This latest episode
came about because I wondered when the first triangular-shaped UFO had been
reported. I wondered this because reports of triangles seemed to have exploded
in the last few years, but this wasn’t a shape widely reported in the past.
I found several
references that suggested that the first recorded triangle sighting was made in
the 1890s in the Dutch East Indies. None of these sources gave any details and
it took a while to track this down.
I eventually made it to
David Marler’s book about Triangular UFOs: An Estimate of the Situation,
but that wasn’t the end of the trail. Marler quoted Don Keyhoe who seems to be the
source. Keyhoe reported on the sighting in his Flying Saucers Are Real. You
can read the book here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5883
Keyhoe wrote that in
1890 “several large bodies were sighted hovering over the Dutch East Indies.
Most accounts described them as roughly triangular, about one hundred feet on
the base and two hundred feet on the sides. But some observers thought they
might be longer and narrower, with a rounded base; this would make them agree
with more recent stories of cone-shaped objects with rounded tops seen in
American skies.” This all the Keyhoe said about the sighting and he provides no
references for us.
That wasn’t the
earliest of the triangular UFO sightings, however. According to Marler, the Scientific
American (vol 46 pg. 49) reported that people in Lebanon, Connecticut, on
July 3, 1882, saw two luminous appearances on “the moon’s upper limb (as Fort
wrote [which Marler cites as his source]). These disappeared and were replaced
by two dark, triangular appearances three minutes later on the moon’s lower
limb.”
I have tried to track
this down but have failed. The Scientific American is on line and I have
read through that issue. It is also true that I might have missed it. Depending
on how important the story was it might have been just a quick, small note.
And, it’s important to remember that the Scientific American is not the
same as it is today. It was more of a newspaper in the 19th century.
This, of course, showed
that reports of triangular UFOs have been around for A young Mike Rogers.
decades. It wasn’t until
late in the 20th century that they came to prominence. During the
Phoenix Lights in 1999, there were sightings of a triangular UFO that moved
from Nevada south toward the Phoenix area. Mike Rogers, yes, that Mike Rogers,
told me he had seen the object as it passed overhead. He said that it was huge
and that although he attempted to interest others in his report, they were more
focused on the lights seen over the city than they were of a dark object that
didn’t fit the narrative. His sighting of the triangle, and that of others, was
lost in the discussion of the Phoenix Lights.
One of the more
exciting sightings of a triangle seemed to be from El Paso, Texas, on August
31, 2018. The witness said that he was driving to work when he saw the strange,
triangular-shaped object. He said that he thought it was weird so he grabbed
his cell phone, took several pictures of it and then made a short video. Here
is the link:
However, I did reach
out to Marc D’Antonio who is MUFON’s photo expert. He told me, “There’s
definitely something illuminated by the sun which is also in the shot up behind
some clouds… It appears to me that it could very well be a jet contrail that’s
extremely foreshortened being illuminated by the sun from this particular
angle... My thoughts anyway. Either way it doesn’t appear to be too mysterious.
It is after all illuminated by the sun and stays in the same relative position.”
Triangle sightings are
an on-going phenomenon. According to Peter Davenport, there have been over 200
reports of triangles in the first half of 2020. Here are just a few of the sightings
reported to the National UFO Reporting Center.
Peter Davenport
At 9:00 pm on Thursday October 1st, [in
Cedar Rapids] I was taking out my garbage when I saw an aircraft slowly coming
towards my home, west to east, going towards Mt. Vernon [Iowa]. I thought it
was a helicopter but then as it came to be almost above my head, I realized it
was not. It was flat metal gray, almost black, it wouldn’t be easy to see had
it not had lights on it. It was triangular in shape but the points were flat,
not pointed. It spanned maybe 10 feet across and was 10 feet in length. It had
two bright lights on the front, like headlights, and a light on each wing, I
guess, one was red and one was green. Both blink opposite of the other. It was
traveling at I would say approximately 20-30 mph. It wasn’t fast. I yelled for
my friend Cody to come outside when it was directly over me. It was very low,
only about 6 feet above the tree outside my balcony. And the sound it made was
that if a very far away jet. So oddly super quiet but very distinct. I saw no
propellers, nothing moved! or it produced no wind at all and it stayed traveling
at the same speed until it was out of site. A car driving by stopped to watch
it go by as well, so technically 3 witnesses but Cody came and saw it just as
it was passing over head. Not sure what it was. But it was not a helicopter or
a plane, at least not any that I know exist. If it was a drone, it was a huge
effing drone. We had completely cloud cover the sky not even 10 minutes after
this happened.
Also, on October 1, from Johnson City,
Tennessee, came this. I was taking my husband to work and as I’m getting closer
to his job I happen to look to my left and notice this large object in the sky
that looks triangular. I mean it could have been another shape but from the
distance it looked like a triangle. It was roughly around 5:53 am this morning
and the three big white circles of the lights were in a triangle position it
was at a vertical position which I thought strange, it was very, very bright so
I figured maybe a plane but then it was just sitting there and I thought that’s
odd and kept looking as I’m trying to drive. It reminded me of a Christmas tree
position just hanging out. I saw a little red on it at one point on the right
side of the craft would be our left side... but the farther I got, the more
distant it was but it never moved ... I told him we needed to stop and video
tape or take a photo but we were running behind and I tried to catch it on my
way back it was gone by then. The location of the object looked perhaps in a
wooded area and some back roads. Just from where I saw it and the location of
where I was. I wanted to report it because I’ve seen so many aircraft in my
time and I’m in a military family ... this was just weird.
On October 2, three
triangles were seen over Berea, KY.
The witness said, “Driving home and saw three spaced
apart black triangular aircrafts with white and red lights hovering still over
the interstate I-75. Two of them were hovering above the strip of land which
separates the north and southbound lanes and one was hovering on the outskirts
of the northbound lane. There was no noise.”
On October 5, in
Pensacola, a tree cutting crew said that at dusk saw the triangle that they
first thought was a helicopter but when it flew overhead, they could see the
black triangle shape. It had a blinking white light at the front and two red
lights in the rear. He got a very good look at it before it disappeared.
I should note here that
these are merely reports and haven’t been investigated thoroughly yet. And, I mentioned,
these are but a few of those reports. On October 1, there were several
sightings of triangles reported to NUFORC. It does seem as if they are becoming
more prominent.
1 comment:
Thank you for another informative blog post Mr Randle. I am just starting to research and trying to understand the UFO phenomenon so forgive my ignorance. I watched a few Phoenix Lights and Belgian triangle lights documentaries and was wondering if these triangular craft are possibly a more advanced model that began with the TR-3A Manta and then TR-3B stealth craft/spy plane allegedly created by Skunk Works for Project Aurora? I read a little on military.com but nothing definitive. Its confusing as some say the TR-3a/b3 was created by Skunk Works and others say Northrup, and its allegedly "black ops" so the online info I found was speculative. Do you think its possible that these black triangles are created by US special projects or is it more likely they are UFO's that are not from earth?
Post a Comment