The Trump administration released a second batch of declassified documents Friday detailing encounters with unidentified anomalous phenomena, featuring accounts from military pilots, astronauts and intelligence officers stretching back to the 1940s. The collection includes video footage, audio recordings and written memos describing objects that witnesses struggled to explain.
A senior U.S. intelligence officer investigating unusual sounds in a mountain range last year described an encounter with a mysterious orange orb that split in two during a helicopter mission. According to a memo from the Office of the Directorate of National Intelligence, the object rose from the ground, approached within ten feet of the aircraft, then dropped below and accelerated away. When fighter jets were called to the scene, the orbs matched the jets' speed and flight path, appearing to chase them.
"We were virtually speechless after these observations," the officer wrote. The memo contained no conclusions about the objects' origin or nature, and included a disclaimer that the documents should not be interpreted as reflecting any analytical judgment or factual determination about the incidents.
The latest release consists primarily of Defense Department materials including military aircraft footage, audio and notes spanning decades. Seven files came from NASA and one from the CIA. Officials said redactions were made to protect witnesses, locations and sensitive information.
A handwritten letter from a Los Alamos scientist dated 1972 described regularly witnessing green lights in mountains between 1948 and 1951, with one sighting showing objects moving in formation. A CIA officer stationed in the Soviet Union reported seeing a green circle that widened into concentric rings after stepping outside during a sports competition between Canada and the USSR.
The video footage released Friday shows spherical, oblong and cigar-shaped objects captured over varied terrain and geography. A November 2020 recording shows a circular object gliding in and out of clouds over the central United States. Another video from roughly five months later captured a similar circular shape moving rapidly across American skies. Objects were also recorded near Kazakhstan's Karaganda International Airport, with one burst of white oval-shaped light breaking the night sky. Footage showed sightings over water near a surfaced submarine, and one object appearing to stop and start as if remotely controlled.
Audio recordings from NASA pilots in the 1960s and 1970s captured astronauts describing anomalies observed from spacecraft. During Project Mercury in 1962, pilot Scott Carpenter reported seeing particles moving randomly through his view during three Earth revolutions. "Their motion is random. They look exactly like snowflakes to me," Carpenter told ground control, who asked if he had attempted to return to them. Carpenter responded calmly that he had adjusted his position and continued observing similar particles, again describing them as resembling snowflakes.
The Apollo 12 crew from 1969 also submitted audio accounts of odd sightings aboard spacecraft. One object that moved rapidly was reported downed over Lake Huron in 2023, though it remains unclear from available footage whether the object was recovered.
The government has declined to draw conclusions about the origins of these phenomena or offer evidence of any extraterrestrial communication. The documents span from the 1940s through approximately six months ago, representing decades of military and civilian encounters that have gone largely unexplained.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "These declassified files show serious observers describing genuine anomalies, but without actual investigative conclusions or explanations, they raise more questions than they answer."
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