Case file · Sighting
Ferry Manuel Soto sighting
On 23 December 1985 the captain and crew of the ferry Manuel Soto, between Las Palmas and Arrecife, saw a silhouette that left at high speed (file 851223).
1985 CE · 28.60, -14.40 · status: unexplained
The researched reading
A ship’s crew watched a silent light pass overhead before dawn. Its lights match an aircraft’s, and that is the most likely explanation.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Something known, misidentified | 40% | At 03:10 the officer first took the light for a star; it then approached overhead silently with a blinding white light, a red light and a fainter white light, exactly the lighting of an aircraft (landing light, red beacon, white tail light) seen head-on, and jets at height are inaudible from a ship. |
| Undetermined | 22% | The share a generic explanation had beyond what has been shown for this case: it fits many cases like this one, but has not been demonstrated for this one. |
| Secret human technology | 14% | Military aircraft or helicopters from the Canary bases would explain an unregistered flight; the Air Force found no radar or unit activity that night, which makes this less likely. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 10% | Four crew watched it, but nothing in the description goes beyond ordinary aircraft lights. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 7% | At night at sea a light without references seems to move and approach, and a "silhouette" is easily inferred. |
| A known natural phenomenon | 4% | A bright star rising at sea twinkles in colour, which may account for the first stationary phase. |
| A poorly understood natural phenomenon | 2% | No natural luminous effect is suggested. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 1% | Officially reported by the ship’s officers. |
Official position: The Canary Air Command reported negative results: no radar or military unit detected anything that night.