UFO Sightings in New York

New York's UAP record is dominated by the Hudson Valley wave of 1982-1986 — one of the largest sustained sighting concentrations in modern U.S. history, with thousands of witnesses across Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties reporting a massive, slow-moving, V-shaped or boomerang-shaped formation of lights. The Pentagon's PURSUE Release 01 (2026-05-08) does not contain any incidents publicly geolocated to New York. Hudson Valley sightings were investigated by Project Blue Book successor groups and by J. Allen Hynek and his successor researchers; the U.S. Air Force at the time attributed the formation to ultralight aircraft flying in pre-planned wedge configuration out of Stormville Airport. The explanation remains contested by witnesses. New York's broader UAP record also includes scattered Long Island and Catskills reports, with no federal-record presence in the modern AARO catalog.

“Massive, slow-moving boomerang of lights crossed the Hudson Valley for years.”

PURSUE catalog coverage

New Yorkdoes not have any incidents publicly geolocated to it in the PURSUE catalog. The Pentagon's catalog covers 29 named incidents geographically; many “Western United States (undisclosed)” PURSUE entries — including the 2023 “Eye of Sauron” federal-agent encounter and the 2025 ODNI senior-intel-officer helicopter encounter — may include New York locations that were redacted to protect facility identity.

Famous historical sightings in New York