Case file · Sighting
Hudson Valley wave
A wave of boomerang-shaped lights over New York and Connecticut.
1983 CE · 41.50, -73.90 · status: explained
The sceptical view
Many were traced to formation-flying ultralight pilots.
The researched reading
Thousands of witnesses, but pilots flying in formation as a prank explain most of the wave. A few close sightings remain uncertain.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Something known, misidentified | 50% | Most boomerang sightings were light aircraft flying in tight formation at night with their lights arranged in a V, which from the ground looks like one huge silent craft. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 15% | The formation flights were a deliberate prank by local pilots (the “Stormville Flyers”), who switched lights off to create the illusion. |
| Undetermined | 13% | The share the reading had given to fabrication on doubt rather than evidence: the record does not settle it either way. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 8% | Media attention swelled reports and expectation made separate aircraft look like one craft. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 7% | A few close sightings described a slow, silent, enormous object that is hard to square with small planes. |
| Secret human technology | 3% | No secret programme was linked to the area. |
| A known natural phenomenon | 2% | No weather or optical effect is needed. |
| A poorly understood natural phenomenon | 2% | Nothing suggests one. |
Official position: No official investigation; journalists and sceptical investigators traced many reports to formation-flying pilots.