In early 2007, this silent,
black-and-white video was uploaded by a user on a conspiracy-
and UFO-centric forum called Above Top Secret. The user claimed the video depicted
a disc-shaped UFO outmaneuvering a fighter jet, somewhere off the coast of Mexico
in the mid-2000s. They had supposedly gained access to the video
while serving onboard a US aircraft carrier and claimed to have smuggled the potentially
classified material off the ship. While some members of the forum
choose to believe their story, others were not so easily convinced. For instance, the video was hosted on a website
belonging to a group of German film students, which led some to denounce the clip
as an attempted hoax. Even those who believed
it could be genuine still complained that it was
a totally uninspiring video of a fuzzy dot. Over a decade later, this long-forgotten
video suddenly resurfaced as part of an article by The New York Times. The video was now linked to
a secret government-funded program and was even corroborated
by a credible eyewitness. What had initially been
dismissed as a hoax turned out to be real. The video was said to depict a genuine encounter
between US Navy fighter jets and some sort of unidentified craft. A second black-and-white video of a similar
yet completely separate incident was also featured
at the beginning of the article. Except, this one had sound. These two videos, along with a third
released a few months later, spread across the internet like wildfire. Comment sections and discussion threads were
dominated by unrestrained speculation about aliens and paranormal phenomena. Skeptics, meanwhile, took it upon themselves
to analyze every pixel in every frame in the hopes of uncovering some neglected clue
that could identify these fuzzy blobs. Any lingering doubts
about the videos' authenticity vanished with the release of an official statement
by the Department of Defense, confirming that the videos
depicted real events involving unidentified aerial phenomena. So, what exactly are we looking at? The first video was recorded off the northwestern
coast of Mexico in late 2004. The story behind it has been recounted by
more than a dozen naval officers, and it goes like this. In early November of 2004, a naval strike group,
led by the aircraft carrier the USS Nimitz, was conducting predeployment exercises
about a hundred kilometers southwest of San Diego. Starting around November 10, radar technicians
aboard the guided-missile cruiser, the USS Princeton, were puzzled by a series of unidentified
radar tracks near San Clement Island. The tracks did not resemble
any known aircraft and would sporadically appear
in groups of 5-10 at a time. Suspecting a malfunction of some sort, the recently upgraded SPY-1 radar system
was taken offline and recalibrated. Once the system was brought back online, however,
the tracks had only become sharper. Among those onboard were
Senior Chief Operations Specialist Kevin Day who was an expert
on the SPY-1 radar system and had 18 years' worth of experience
at the time of the incident. Day observed firsthand
how these unknown targets alternated between slightly strange
and physics-defying maneuvers. Sometimes, a cluster of tracks would appear
out of nowhere and slowly drift south. They were flying too high to be birds,
too slow to be conventional aircraft, and did not follow
any commercial airways. Other times, they would seemingly
descend from space and drop all the way down to sea-level
in mere seconds. These phenomena continued for several days. And every time they reappeared,
the crew would run up to the bridge and use a pair of
heavily magnified binoculars to see these tiny specks
moving erratically in the distance. On the morning of November 14,
the crew on board the USS Nimitz were gearing up for a scheduled
air defense exercise. They had not yet been informed of the
unusual returns picked up by the Princeton. It was a cloudless day, and the sea was calm,
as pilots took to the skies. One of them was
Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Kurth, who was flying a single-seat F/A-18 fighter jet
when he was contacted by the Princeton. He was instructed to investigate an unknown
target approaching from the south. The Princeton also wanted to know
if he carried any weapons, to which the answer was no. Kurth made his way to the specified coordinates
but did not pick up anything on sensors. As he looked down
towards the ocean, however, his attention was immediately drawn
towards a turbulent patch of water. Kurth claims to have seen
a roundish disturbance on the ocean, which appeared as though something
was submerged just below the surface. It reminded him of a submarine or ship
slowly sinking into the ocean. The Nimitz strike group did include a
nuclear-powered submarine named the USS Louisville. The Louisville was in the vicinity
when Kurth made his observations so the churning may indeed
have been caused by a submerging submarine. If not, then, whatever was in the water, managed to evade detection
by the Louisville's extremely sensitive sonar. Kurth was soon joined by a squadron
of two tandem-seated F-18s. The lead aircraft of which was piloted by
Commander David Fravor. Much like Kurth, Fravor claims
to have seen a disturbance on the ocean, which he described as having
a vaguely cross-like shape. He thought it resembled a downed airliner and described its size
as much larger than a submarine. While Kurth eventually
circled back for the Nimitz, Fravor and his wingman
decided to get a closer look. As they began their descent,
they noticed a white capsule-shaped craft moving erratically
above the disturbance. At first, they thought it could be a helicopter,
but there were no rotor blades. In fact, it was perfectly smooth. No markings, no exhaust,
no protrusions of any kind. The UFO appeared to maintain
a consistent altitude but made rapid lateral movements
with no visible means of propulsion. According to Fravor, it was a bit smaller than
an F-18 and resembled a giant mint of Tic-Tac. As Fravor continued to descend,
his wingman decided to maintain altitude and kept watching from above. Flying in a spiraling downward motion,
Fravor was getting closer and closer until, suddenly,
the UFO realigned its axis and began to climb
at an incredible rate of speed. Both of them were now flying in a circle. The UFO was coming up
while the F-18 was going down. In an effort to close the distance between them,
Fravor made a final aggressive turn before the UFO rapidly accelerated
up to a hypersonic speed and disappeared
in a matter of seconds. Asthey looked down towards the ocean,
it was now perfectly calm. Okay, but what about the video? Well, so Fravor and his wingman
made it back to the Nimitz. They landed and ran into a different flight crew,
preparing to head back out. They told them what they had seen and to be
on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary. Soon thereafter, another tandem-seated F-18
took the skies. This time,
it was outfitted with an Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared
camera system. This ATFLIR pod is controlled by the
Weapon Systems Operator seated behind the pilot, and the back-seater of this flight
was Lieutenant Chad Underwood. A few minutes after departing the Nimitz,
Underwood detected something on his radar. The unknown target was directly ahead,
a few tens of kilometers away. The target's behavior was erratic and unpredictable. Its altitude and airspeed
were in constant flux. According to Underwood, it simply did not
abide by the known laws of physics. At some point, Underwood managed to get a
lock on the target with the ATFLIR camera and this is when the much-publicized video
was recorded. At the beginning of the video,
we see a UFO being tracked in infrared. Underwood then switches to visible light, revealing an out-of-focus,
rounded mass in the distance. He then switches back to infrared and alternates between two different
zoom levels on multiple occasions. Not much happens
until the very end of the video when the UFO suddenly disappears
off to the left-hand side of the screen. As the target was too far away
to be seen with the naked eye, neither Underwood nor his pilot
ever made visual contact. The Princeton continued to detect anomalous
radar tracks for at least two more days, and, according to Senior Chief Day,
they eventually disappeared near the Mexican island of Guadalupe. In complete isolation, utterly divorced
from any and all surrounding context, this video is extraordinarily... ...unremarkable. It's a fuzzy blob
against a featureless background. It's only when you place it in the middle
of these truly remarkable stories that the video itself
becomes remarkable. When skeptics and debunkers
claim that this is a distant airplane, I understand why many are
so opposed to that explanation. Because the witness accounts say otherwise. A distant airplane can't just zip around the sky
as if gravity was nonexistent. It doesn't make any sense. Unfortunately, we don't see any of those
physics-defying maneuvers in the video. In fact, this fuzzy blob does not do
much of anything until the very end when it suddenly disappears
off to the left-hand side of the screen. Now, some claim this is due to
a sudden acceleration by the UFO, but it could also be something as simple
as the camera losing its target lock. It's difficult to tell. Underwood himself is uncertain
about what happens at the end as he never made visual contact. The witness accounts, meanwhile,
are so extraordinary they are difficult to believe. If any regular person claimed to have seen
a Tic-Tac-shaped UFO moving erratically in the sky,
few would listen. But when that same story is told by some of
the most qualified observers on the planet, it makes you wonder. And it wasn't just one or two. These UFOs were either seen or tracked by dozens of experienced aviators and sailors
for nearly a week. They were seen from
multiple vantage points and tracked by one of the most sophisticated
radar systems in the world. To think that all of them are lying or all
of them were deceived by some prosaic phenomena seems absurd. At the same time, there is no way to verify
what they're saying. We have no choice
but to take them at their word. We don't have the radar data,
the radio communication logs, nor any corroborating evidence. Well, except for this
pixel-deficient footage, I guess. Some of the witnesses claim there was actually
a much longer and much higher resolution video than the one we see today. They claim to have seen this video
on board the Princeton, and that the shape of the UFO
was perfectly clear as it violently maneuvered
around the screen. What's interesting about this claim is that,
when the video was first leaked online back in 2007, the anonymous leaker claimed they had four
different versions of the video in their possession. Two of them were said to be shorter,
but the forth was said to be twice as long and supposedly showed
"more UFO movement". Unfortunately, this extended version
has never seen the light of day. And, if some of the witnesses are to be believed,
it likely never will. You see, on the evening of November 14,
all the footage and data from these events were supposedly erased. Witnesses claim that two men arrived via helicopter
who then collected the relevant data before having all the
tapes and hard drives wiped clean. Witnesses from both the Nimitz
and Princeton recall such a visit and insist that nothing like it
had ever happened before. This has understandably lead to speculations
of some sort of cover-up. That these sightings were that of
top-secret military drones or aircraft. While the US military is undoubtedly experimenting
with all kinds of cutting-edge technology, it is difficult to believe they possess
gravity-defying, hypersonic, flying Tic-Tacs. If so, they would possess technology so far
beyond anything known to the public, it would be akin to magic. And this was back in 2004. Don't get me wrong,
2004 was a magical time compared to [CURRENT YEAR] but it was still aggressively 2004. *2004-ness intensifies* I really don't know what to make of this story. After reading, watching, and listening to so many
interviews with the people who were there, I'm left with the distinct impression
that they're telling the truth. The video, on the other hand,
does little to support their claims. Sure, this fuzzy blob may be unidentified,
but it's not unexplainable. The second and third videos were recorded off the southeastern coast
of the United States in early 2015. While those who recorded the footage
have yet to come forward, some of their crewmates
and fellow pilots have. And according to them,
the story goes like this. In the summer of 2014, a naval strike group,
led by the aircraft carrier the USS Theodore Roosevelt, was conducting predeployment exercises
somewhere off the coast of Virginia. Much like with the Nimitz encounters, the first sign of trouble
came in the form of anomalous radar tracks. Following a fleet-wide upgrade
of aircraft radar systems, pilots had begun to pick up unidentified targets
while conducting routine training missions. The tracks were initially
dismissed as false-positives, but their behavior was unlike
anything they had seen before. Gravity-defying maneuvers, hypersonic velocities,
and other mystifying shenanigans. Attempts to intercept these UFOs
were initially unsuccessful. Lieutenant Danny Aucoin claims that,
on two separate occasions, he tried but failed
to make visual contact. Then, one day, a squadron is said to have
narrowly avoided a midair collision with one of these UFOs. The two jets had been flying in tandem, no
more than a few tens of meters apart, when something flew
right in between them. That something was oddly described as a cube
encased by a translucent sphere. Lieutenant Ryan Graves, who spoke to
one of the pilots once they landed, claims the experience
had visibly spooked them. So much so, the squadron filed
an official safety report. According to Graves,
this was far from an isolated incident. These UFOs were allegedly seen
by dozens of pilots for several months and could remain airborne
for up to twelve hours at a time. Yet, despite growing concerns
among the Roosevelt crew, training missions continued
as if nothing was amiss. By early 2015, the Roosevelt strike group
had made its way down to the coast of Florida, which is when the two, now famous,
videos were recorded. Both of which are said to be short clips taken
from much longer and higher resolution footage. We don't know much about the circumstances
as the officers involved have chosen to remain silent, but let's take a look at the first one. So there are a few things
to unpack in this one. If we ignore the audio for a moment
and focus solely on the visuals, the thing that immediately stands out
is the apparent rotation of the UFO. I use the word "apparent" because some debunkers
claim that this rotation is an optical illusion. You see, the ATFLIR pod is equipped with
something known as a derotation mechanism. It's meant to counteract
the rotation of the camera so that the orientation of the image
stays the same. Also know as image stabilization. What may not be stabilized, however, are certain
artifacts produced by the lens of the camera. You can even try this yourself. Aim a camera towards a light source, rotate the camera,
stabilize the footage, and there you go. The orientation
of the image is preserved while these spokes of light
rotate along with the camera. So, much like how the light from this light bulb
is producing a lens flare, the infrared radiation from this UFO
is said to be producing a lens glare. In other words, debunkers claim it is the camera,
and thereby the glare, which is rotating. Not the UFO itself. While this explanation seems
perfectly reasonable to my untrained eyes, things get a bit more confusing
once we bring back the audio. If this rotation is merely
the result of image stabilization, why would the two pilots
fail to recognize it as such? Surely, they, if anyone,
would know what that looks like? And they're not alone. Both Lieutenant Graves and Aucoin
believe it is the UFO which is rotating. Furthermore, an expert on the ATFLIR system
has very plainly stated that this is not an optical illusion. But this is not the only puzzling comment
made by the two pilots. So the radar is supposedly detecting
"a whole fleet" of UFOs, which are all traveling crosswind. I mean,
if what we're looking at is something prosaic, like the blooming exhaust of a jet engine, these comments don't make
a whole lot of sense. I would love to hear what these two pilots
have to say if they ever decide to come forward. Until then, all we can do is speculate. This video may seem very striking at first,
but it is arguably the least interesting of the three. Once again, let's ignore the audio for a moment
and focus solely on the visuals. Unlike the previous two, the UFO in this one
is colder than its surroundings. So, the ocean below is radiating more heat
than whatever this is. It may look as though the UFO is traveling
at high speed, but this is likely the result of parallax. In short, aircraft go fast. Camera fixed on not-so-fast UFO. UFO appear to go fast. Some say the UFO is near sea-level, and therefore
the parallax explanation doesn't work. But we can actually derive its altitude
using the numbers onscreen and find that that is not true. Everything seen in this video
is consistent with a balloon or some sort of debris
floating in the wind. The commentary by the pilots, however, does,
once again, introduce a bit of confusion. I mean, it seems odd for the pilots to be
so excited over something so mundane, but without hearing from the pilots themselves,
we can do nothing but speculate. The person responsible for making
these videos available to the public is a man named Luis Elizondo. Beginning in 2008, Elizondo was the head
of a secret government-funded effort to investigate UFO sightings known as the
Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program. By late 2017, however,
Elizondo had grown so disillusioned with the government's lack of interest
in the program's efforts that he decided to resign. In his resignation letter, Elizondo writes
that certain individuals within the government are staunchly opposed to UFO research. That inflexible mindsets and political contention
essentially prevented him from doing his job. He portrays the government as virtually unconcerned
about an issue which he believes could pose a threat
to national security. So much so that he felt it necessary
to resign in protest. This seemingly uncaring attitude was also noted by witnesses of both
the Nimitz- and Roosevelt encounters. For instance, Lieutenant Ryan Graves recalled
how the commander of the Roosevelt strike group seemed completely unfazed by this video. On the day when it was captured,
he supposedly looked at it for five seconds, then walked away
without saying a word. Some of the senior officers
on board the Nimitz and Princeton are said to have had
an equally muted response. These are very bizarre reactions
to potential air space incursions. You'd think they'd want to make sure
these UFOs are not some kind of threat. The near midair collision reported by
one of the squadrons from the Roosevelt seems especially concerning. To account for this apparent disinterest,
many point to the severe stigma surrounding the topic of UFOs. Regardless of how inaccurate it may be,
the term UFO has, for many, become synonymous
with aliens and space ships. So much so,
the government now favors the term UAP, specifically to avoid
this unwanted association. Whether sightings go
unreported or uninvestigated, the argument is that people
choose to look the other way because they're concerned
about their reputation. No one wants to be seen as a nutcase
and potentially lose out on a promotion. Others believe there could be something
a bit more conniving at play. That no serious action is taken because a
highly advanced and top secret drone program is responsible for the sightings. Even some of the witnesses
have entertained that possibility. For instance, Sean Cahill, who was the
Chief Master-at-Arms on board the Princeton, perceived the inaction of senior staff as a clear sign
that the UFOs were known military assets. But, as previously mentioned,
it is difficult to believe such radical innovation could have taken place
in absolute secrecy. Were talking about
such advanced technology, it would barely make sense
in a science fiction novel. Vehicles that can exceed the speed of sound
without producing any sonic booms. Vehicles that can drop or climb to virtually
any altitude in a matter of seconds. Vehicles that can violently change direction
of travel as if inertia was a mere suggestion. None of that should be possible,
yet dozens of trained observers claim they witnessed the impossible. The least uncomfortable solution, therefore,
is to simply not believe them. Sure, the witnesses are credible,
but they're not incontrovertible. Everything from optical illusions
to faulty equipment could be used to cast doubt
on their extraordinary tales. And without any corroborating evidence,
except for this nebulous footage, that is not a difficult task. As such, many government officials
may not seem concerned because they genuinely believe
there is nothing to be concerned about. Personally, I'm left feeling very conflicted. On the one hand,
I find the witness accounts quite compelling. On the other, I find this grainy trilogy of
dots-in-the-sky somewhat underwhelming. Sure, the videos are fascinating. But they're also far too ambiguous
to provide any decisive answers. I highly recommend that you seek out
and listen to some of the witness accounts so that you can judge for yourself. This is very much a developing situation. By the time you watch this video, chances are,
more information will have been released. According to Elizondo, the Nimitz- and Roosevelt
encounters are just the tip of the iceberg. Sightings by military personnel
are said to be commonplace, it's just that we rarely
hear about them. I can only hope that more evidence
is released in the near future and that, at least, one video
depict something inexplicable. Something that is unidentified
because it defies explanation, not because it is too distant, too small,
or otherwise too obscure. No, but something truly extraordinary. That's what I want to see.
Having finished the video, I really have to applaud the fine line it walks. UFOs are a difficult subject to discuss because it's so easy to get drawn into wild speculation and evoke images of little green men and Hollywood sci fi films. And then on the other side of that are the immense ramifications of exactly what is being discussed, for better or worse.
This does a great job at presenting first hand information, proper context, and avoids losing focus. It even discusses how difficult bringing up the subject is within the military hierarchy, which is interesting.
As challenging a subject as it is to navigate, I think it's absolutely necessary.
Oh boy a lemmino upload, i know what i'm going to watch while having lunch!
i remember watching this guy back when he was called top10memes, glad he’s still uploading
Well this is pretty fascinating.
Not to be the buzzkill, but I think we're giving these pilots too much credit as the perfect observers. It's pretty clear that in the third video the pilots were watching the same video we were and just didn't understand parallax. Pilots make mistakes. Pilots make assumptions. I would even go so far as to say the stereotypical pilot is not one with the skeptical mindset you would want as an impartial, skeptical observer. I think the same thing happened in all 3 videos. The pilots misunderstood what they were looking at. Humans in general are horrible at being eyewitnesses. We look for patterns that might not necessarily be there. You could make the case that a good fighter pilot would be even better at looking for patterns. For those reasons, to me this is Unextraordinary Until Proven Otherwise.
Always get excited when he uploads a video once every 3-4 months! Time to settle in and watch it
Listening to the witness accounts makes you really want to believe. However, even though it wasn't mentioned in the video, I now feel like these declassified videos may have been planned fakes of UFOs by the government to "satisfy the hunger" of the public. Like they just ordered the soldiers to say these things, and conveniently only declassified the most boring segments of the video that don't reveal anything about the UFO.
One of the things that makes me think this way is the fact that one of the most vocal witnesses, David Fravor, also claims to have done maneuvers during training exercises at night to scare civilians. On the Joe Rogan podcast he said "I swooped down low and then punched it near vertical" in a maneuver he described was to make people think he was a UFO and freak them out. That's a weird thing for a "stable and trained Lt. Commander" to say he did.
On the other hand you have people like Bob Lazar, who seem very convincing until you get to the part where he claims to have stolen a stable isotope of moscovium from area 51. If he had not said this, I would have believed everything he said about UFOs. He keeps his stories consistent and believable, but the closer you get to the modern day the less he mentions having taken the moscovium. This indicates to me that there is a layer cake of truth he sprinkled lies over.
It's this same feeling I get with David Fravor, although this time it feels manufactured. Instead of being an "unaffiliated nutjob" like Bob Lazar, he is marked as a "reliable source" of such incredible information. Underneath the surface, I think he is really some kind of "affiliated nutjob" being posed as reliable by the government.
it's clearly people from the future looking for whales to bring back with them.
"I don't know what to make of this story."
You don't have to make anything of it. There's no requirement that you come to a conclusion. You can just say "Huh, that's interesting" and go on with your life.
There's this shared illusion that we need to take in these narratives, and then "decide" something. We don't. We imagine that somehow what we decide about these things matters. It doesn't.
"I'm left with the distinct impression that they're telling the truth."
They may well be doing their best to relay their impressions of what they perceived. So what? It amounts to "we saw some crazy shit and we don't know what it was." Ok, I believe you.