- [Michael] It was a perfect
black, equilateral triangle. (air whooshing)
(eerie music) - [Narrator] Tonight
on "Unidentified," the hunt for answers to one
of the greatest UFO mysteries. - [Eyewitness] Until I
put binoculars on it, I would've never known
it was a triangle. (electronics screeching) - [Narrator] Strange triangles
are being seen in our skies by people all over the world. - [Eyewitness] This craft
made no sound whatsoever, other than a very
slight humming noise. - The slow speed is a very
creepy aspect to this. You have this large
stealthy object moving very slowly
through the sky. (air whooshing)
(eerie music) - [Narrator] Are the
mysterious triangles Top Secret military aircraft
or UFOs on a possible mission that threatens our
national security? - If it's ours, that's great. (air whooshing) If it's not, we've got an
awful lot to worry about. (sinister music) - [Narrator] Everything we
know about UFOs is changing. (static crackling) Thanks to a team led by former
Pentagon UFO investigator, Lue Elizondo. - That is real,
whatever that is. - [Narrator] And former
top Intelligence official, Chris Mellon. - This is a current,
continuing phenomenon. It's happening, it
continues to happen. (air whooshing)
(electronics beeping) - [Narrator] They discovered
five unique characteristics that UFOs have in common
called the five observables. They also released
groundbreaking videos. (electronics chirping) - [Narrator] That
forced the Navy to admit its pilots were
coming face to face with unidentified objects. (electronics screeching) - [Reporter] The U.S. Navy made
a shocking admission today. - [Reporter] Strange flying
objects caught on tape by their own fighter
pilots are in fact UFOs. (intense music) - [Narrator] Now, a new
wave of military witnesses is coming out of the shadows. - I never seen anything
move like that. Shape, size, speed, it's
clearly unidentified. - [Narrator] The team is
united on a new mission. (electronics chirping) Connect the dots to reveal
the truth about UFOs. - [Eyewitness] This
thing had no capability like anything on earth. - [Narrator] And warn the world about the dangers
they might represent. - [Chris] Carl Sagan
once famously said, "Extraordinary claims
require extraordinary proof." He was absolutely right, but now we have the proof. (static crackling)
(soft dramatic music) (intense music) - [Narrator] Throughout history, unidentified flying objects
of various shapes and sizes have appeared in our skies. Thousands have witnessed
mysterious flying saucers, orbs, cubes, and Tic Tacs. (static crackling) But unidentified triangle-shaped
craft have been reported by thousands of witnesses
over the last four decades, so the team has launched
a new investigation. - Hello.
- How are you? - [J.T.] Fine, thank you. - [Lue] Good, come on in. - [Crew Member]
Take one, marker. (dramatic music) - I was in the
Army for 24 years. I got to Fort Bragg
in January of 1990. Come August 1990 is when
Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. (engines rumbling) - What Iraq has done
violates every norm of international law. (explosion booming) - [Narrator] In December 1990, on the eve of the Gulf War, a veteran who asked
to be called J.T. is deployed to a large American
outpost in the Saudi Desert. - I was deployed north
to Hafar Al Batin. It's in heavily-scanned
restricted airspace. (intense music) It was Super Bowl Sunday.
It was just past sunset. Everybody else was
watching the pre-game show and I was the only
one out there. As I looked up into the sky, I saw something that
really caught my attention because it was the
only thing there. It was a triangle of three
orangish-white lights drifting silently and
slowly through the sky. They moved as though
they were part of an isosceles triangle. This was not a
high-altitude object. Probably between
1,000 and 2,000 feet is what I would estimate. It was following a
perfect due east course, drifting elegantly
through the sky. There was absolutely
no sound at all. I mean, nothing. (intense music) I was stunned. I was
straight up stunned. I went back inside the tent and I told my best friend
about it, only him. And he had told me that
he had heard others talking about similar things. And we really didn't
go into it too much because the Super Bowl started and Whitney Houston sang
the national anthem. ♪ Of the brave - That was it, everybody else
was sucked into the game. I've never seen anything like
it since then or before then. - [Narrator] J.T.'s
sighting matches descriptions the team
has heard before. - [Chris] He had a very
clear view of lights on the corners of the triangle. It's part of a
stunning global pattern that's reported by people
from all walks of life, as well as military and
law enforcement personnel. - That doesn't fit any
type of known aircraft that I'm aware of. (intense music) - [Narrator] Another
Gulf War veteran believes he witnessed
a similar triangle UFO just over a year later
in the same area. - It was 1992 in the
central Persian Gulf. I was a Navy
cryptologic technician trained in Persian Farsi, the
national language of Iran. I often deployed
to the Persian Gulf where we provided
theater-level support to intelligence, surveillance,
and reconnaissance missions. - This is probably one of the more
highly-trained individuals that the U.S. military and the
Intelligence Community has. For all intents and purposes, this gentleman is a spy
on the combat field. (soft dramatic music) - [Narrator] The Gulf War had
ended only a year earlier. Tensions remained high. Michael Via was on
the USS Mobile Bay, patrolling the Persian Gulf
not far from the location of J.T.'s Saudi Arabia sighting. - I was temporarily assigned and I was taking some time
to come get some fresh air and see what was going on. I made my way up
to the O6 level, about as high as you can get
on this particular warship. I was up there just sightseeing, skylarking as they
say in the Navy. There were no
flight ops underway. And all of a sudden, there was a pulsing sound
that I felt as much as heard. It was a very low
frequency rumble. Between a rumble and a pulse. Like a (imitates
aircraft rumbling). I looked up and there it was. It was the most pristine, equilateral black triangle flying directly over our ship as if it had right up our wake. In each corner were
these bright round areas. The altitude of this thing
was about 10,000 feet and its relative
speed appeared to me to be somewhere between
300 and 500 miles per hour. The aircraft did not
leave a contrail. (eerie music) It was absolutely
stunning, majestic. From the time that I
first saw the craft until it faded from view, it
was no more than 10 seconds. So I went back down below deck and I saw no indication that this thing was
being tracked on radar. (radar beeping)
(dispatchers chattering) At the speed at which I had seen this thing
passing overhead, it should've still been
on the radar picture. It was in broad daylight,
a direct overflight of some of the most sensitive
airspace on the planet. I was astounded by what I saw. - [Chris] Hmm. - [Narrator] Though Michael
Via's Gulf War sighting is similar to J.T.'s, the team notices one
striking difference. - Once again, here we
have this black triangle that shows up, and this was
in broad daylight by the way. This wasn't at night. - Which is unusual. - Yes, two aircraft at that
time that I can think of that would fit that
pattern of a triangle, one being the F-117,
(engine roaring) and the other one may have been
some sort of stealth bomber. - [Chris] But the silent profile
would reduce observability. - [Narrator] A
low-flying triangle with lights on each corner, no
contrails, no sound of jets, and no visible source of lift. (mysterious music) Could the triangle
spotted by J.T. and Via be explained by a Top
Secret U.S. warplane? (engine roaring) Triangle-shaped
aircraft are a part of U.S. stealth plane history. America's first
stealth warplane, the hypersonic SR-71 Blackbird, first saw action
in the late 1960s. The B-2 Stealth Bomber
was unveiled in 1989. And the F-117 Nighthawk,
a stealth attack aircraft, played a crucial role
in winning the Gulf War. All three aircraft used the radical new
triangle-shaped design, but the military
witnesses are certain these are not what they saw. (intense music) - It was not a F-117 Nighthawk. It was not a B-2 Bomber. It had no sawtooth edges. It was a perfect black,
equilateral triangle. - Even at 1,000, 2,000 feet, you're going to hear
something from a F-117 or any other aircraft. As it moved through the sky, there was absolutely no sound
at all, not even a whisper. I mean, nothing. - I have an advanced
degree in aviation science. I worked government
aerospace for 20 years. This didn't fit anything that had previously been
rolled out publicly. (curious music) - [Narrator] The
triangle mystery deepens when a similar object is
seen over American skies in Utah 30 years later. (intense music)
(static crackling) - I'm on my way to Moab, Utah
to meet with an individual. He's former military,
highly credible, who saw one or more
triangular UFOs inside the national park. - [Narrator] Former
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for
Intelligence, Chris Mellon, is investigating
triangle-shaped UFOs. This witness has never
before spoken publicly about his UFO encounter. - [Chris] I'm expecting to
gain some new insights into the issue of whether or not these are U.S. manufactured
military vehicles or, in fact, foreign or of
some even more exotic origin. (dramatic music) - [Narrator] Due to his
background in Army Intelligence, the witness has asked
to remain anonymous. - [Chris] I'm expecting the
witness to arrive at nightfall. (mysterious music) Hey, there. - [Eyewitness] Hi, Mr.
Mellon. How are you? - [Chris] Good,
how are you doing? - [Eyewitness] Good,
nice to meet you. - [Chris] Thanks for coming out. - [Eyewitness] Well, thank you. - [Narrator] The former
Intelligence analyst was with his father shooting
night sky photography in September 2019 when they
noticed an unusual light. - [Eyewitness] I had wanted
to get Milky Way photos for a long time, so I was pretty
focused on doing that. - [Chris] Mmm-hmm - [Eyewitness] We got here
around 10 o'clock. I was setting up this way. My dad saw a light that
was very, very active. I mean, it was just
a quick streak. And I didn't think much of it, that it was probably a meteor. And it was within three or four
seconds that it did it again and I kinda stopped and I was like, "Dad,
I think that's a UFO." So then, we started watching it and it was here for a long time. - [Chris] Really? - [Eyewitness] At times, it
would be gone. And it would look like a streak, and then it would
appear over here. Until I put binoculars on it, I would've never known
it was a triangle. - [Chris] Did you subsequently think about reporting
it to any authorities? - Yeah, I did think
about calling it, but I didn't think
it would do any good. We kept thinking, "They're
gonna be gone at any second." - [Chris] Was it hovering
at that point? - [Eyewitness] Yes, it was
kind of stationary. There was no sound out of it, so you heard nothing that
would keep it hovering. (aircraft warbling) - [Narrator] He
says the triangle moved methodically around the
canyon as if it had a purpose. - [Chris] Did you have a
hypothesis about what these things were? - Well they were searching
for something, you know? - You think it was searching? - Either searching
or it was taking some kind of detailed map. You know, it was crazy. - [Chris] I've always wondered if that might be what's
occurring with these objects. If the surface of the
earth isn't being mapped extensively, comprehensively, and in minute detail. So, it corroborates to some
degree my own thinking. It's interesting to see
another Intelligence officer having a similar reaction. (dramatic music) - [Narrator] Mellon
examines the photos for further evidence. Any similarities
between this sighting and other triangle events. - This is the one that
appeared to be one bright light until you put binoculars on it, then you could see
it was a triangle. (mysterious music) My lens was set up for
about a 10 second exposure. - [Narrator] The
witness's camera was set for long exposures, ideal
to capture the stars above. But anything moving
becomes a blur. Afterwards, he took
the photos to a friend, who is a graphic artist, to help create a composite
of what he says he witnessed. - [Chris] Wow! - [Eyewitness] I
showed it to my dad. He was like, "Wow,
it's dead on." - [Chris] Thank you so
much for sharing that. How has this experience
affected you? - For one thing, I realize
we're not alone now. To me, it's fact. I don't mean to be cliché, but it went from science fiction to science fact
for me that night. - His story was
absolutely believable. He had a security clearance, held a sensitive and
responsible position. (curious music) - [Narrator] The Utah sighting
occurred in September 2019. For Chris Mellon, that's
key because it means the object was not the
triangle-shaped F-117, which was retired in 2008. Or the B-2, which flew its most recent
combat mission in 2017. But could the object over
the Canyonlands National Park that night have been some
kind of still classified, secret military technology?
(engines roaring) - [Reporter] Folks in
Texas are a bit concerned over something mysterious
floating above their heads. - [Man] Watch the spotlights. I'll tell you when to look. It shines back at you, ha! - [Narrator] For years,
there have been rumors of an alleged
triangle-shaped spy plane, code-named the TR-3B. Speculation about its
existence has long fascinated many in the UFO and
aviation communities. - Everybody from hikers in
the Sierra Nevada mountains to airline pilots were
starting to see things, and they were reporting
them to people like us at "Aviation Week." - [Narrator] Bill Scott is a former Air Force flight
test engineer and pilot who spent years as a reporter trying to solve the
triangle mystery. - The reports varied
considerably in quality, but what we found trying to
piece all these things together were some of it was correlating
with known programs. It very quickly became
almost the cottage industry. We know for a fact
there are a whole lot of these flying
triangle-type vehicles. Out in Groom Lake, Area 51,
they're still very classified. - [Narrator] The
rumored TR-3B spy plane was said to have
a massive wingspan and fly extremely
slow at low altitudes. (engine roaring) But for Chris Mellon, these stories are
more legend than fact. - Every source that I've
gone to and spoken with in the aerospace
industry, in the Pentagon, has denied that we have a TR-3B or anything matching
the performance, even remotely, of
what's being observed. (mysterious music) - [Narrator] The
new witness believes the mysterious
triangle was hovering above the ground
mapping the area. If these hovering
flight characteristics can't be explained
by modern aviation or decades-old
conspiracy theories, then Mellon believes
we might be facing a new and uncertain
national security risk. - The fact that somebody's
operating these craft directly inside
the United States in close proximity to sensitive
locations is alarming. (dramatic music) - [Narrator] Mellon
dedicated his career to protecting America from
unconventional threats serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary
of Defense for Intelligence under Presidents Clinton
and George W. Bush. - [Chris] I was really concerned with dealing with insurgencies, with terrorism,
unconventional threats. - As the senior
civilian official at the Defense Department responsible for Intelligence, Chris Mellon was
essentially a king of the Intelligence
Community in the military. He had access to
anything he wanted. (intense music) - Chris is the kinda guy
that doesn't like unknowns. He's always thinking. He's always trying
to figure out. And I think, from
Chris's perspective, this may be one of the
greatest mysteries yet that need to be solved. - [Narrator] With the triangle
over Utah still an unknown, Mellon seeks out the one
man who may have answers. (static crackling) I'm in Albuquerque,
New Mexico today, heading to the home
of David Marler, who's the world's
leading authority on the phenomenon of
black triangle UFOs. This is something that is
being reported globally and has been for many years. So there's actually a
considerable amount of data. (static crackles) - [Narrator] Some
think the triangles are secret U.S.
military aircraft. Others believe
they could be here to map the earth's surface. (static crackles) Chris Mellon believes a mapping
mission by an unknown entity could pose a serious risk to
American national security. He hopes David Marler
might have fresh insights into the phenomena. - [Chris] David! - [David] Chris? - [Chris] How are you? - Nice to finally meet you. - [Chris] Hey, thank
you, such a pleasure. - [David] I'm interested in
showing you some of my research. - [Chris] Incredible. - 30 years in the making. So here we are,
the research room. - Wow, this is incredible. - (chuckles) This is
rather interesting. This was one of the
witnesses that I interviewed, he does woodworking and he
developed a actual model- - [Chris] Interesting. - Not only depicting the object, but the lighting
characteristics. These are case files, news
clippings, scrapbooks. Here we have a database and
there's over 17,000 case files. - [Chris] 17,000? - Which, of course, is just
the tip of the iceberg. - Most people don't even
report their sightings. - [David] No. - [Narrator] David Marler
combines methodical research with gumshoe detective work, making him the world's
leading author and lecturer on triangular UFOs. - Okay, Dave, so let me
ask you, "Why triangles?" - When we look at the
1960s and the 1970s, there was a massive increase
in triangular UFO reports and this pattern has even
continued to this day. (dramatic music) There was a fantastic
series of sightings in Southern Illinois that
I personally investigated. - [Narrator] In the
early morning hours of January 5th, 2000, a strange object was
spotted by a truck driver in Highland, Illinois, a small town southeast
of St. Louis. (intense music) - Lebanon Police Officer Ed
Barton pulled his squad car over and he observed a large
triangular silent platform moving over his head. - [Narrator] As the
craft made its way across Southern Illinois, multiple police departments
began to call in sightings. - Officer David Martin of
the Shiloh Police Department looked up and he said,
"I see something, "but I don't know
what the heck it is." Shortly thereafter, it disappeared and continued
to move to the southwest. The unique aspect of the
Southern Illinois case is we have multiple
police officers from neighboring municipalities in radio contact with each other at the time of the sightings. (radio chirps) (air whooshing) - Officer Craig Stevens
of Millstadt, Illinois tried to take a Polaroid
picture of the object, which did not come
out very well. He then radioed to
another police officer in the neighboring
town of Dupo, Illinois to see if that police
officer could see anything. - It rapidly accelerated
to the southwest. (dramatic music) We had the complete
absence of sound coupled with the large size. Most of the police
officers stated the object was only 500
to 1,000 feet altitude. (mysterious music)
(static crackling) - [Narrator] The characteristics
of the Illinois triangle are consistent with
what Mellon has heard from other eyewitnesses. But the question remains,
what are triangles doing? - If this is a military
aircraft, what's its mission? I assume that there's a mission. It is surveillance
of some nature, or scanning or analyzing
the terrain, the topography. - Well, they do seem elusive, as though perhaps they're
collecting intelligence. And I have wondered
whether they might be doing some kind of highly,
highly detailed mapping. - When we look at the
behaviors associated with some of these reports, the low altitude
flight, the slow speed, it could be a mapping
operation of the geography, they could be mapping
something subterranean, below ground, below surface. We simply don't know. Unfortunately,
there's a lot of data, but that doesn't necessarily
equate to answers. - [Narrator] If the triangles
are on a mapping mission, why would this
craft be interested in detailing the farmlands
of Southern Illinois? - The triangle flew within
an estimated one to two miles of Scott Air Force Base,
but it flew by the base. It was not reported taking
off or landing there. It simply did a
little bit of a flyby. (menacing music) - [Narrator] Scott
Air Force Base is home to Air Mobility Command, a crucial part of our
nation's military, coordinating troop
transportation across the globe. - There have been many instances in which these vehicles have
been observed over bases, such as Scott Air Force Base. And that level of intrusiveness is something that we're not
engaged in over Russia and China and surprised unpleasantly
to find occurring here. - [Narrator] A 2001 study
by a UFO research group founded by space
entrepreneur, Bob Bigelow, documented reports of triangles near 50 different Air Force
installations across the U.S., including eight sightings
near Scott Air Force Base. It's a pattern Mellon
finds disturbing. (ominous music) - [Eyewitness] I was in shock. I couldn't believe my eyes. - [Eyewitness] It was the
size of a football field. - [Narrator] From 1983 to 1986, giant triangle-shaped
craft were repeatedly seen flying just 50 miles north of
America's most populated city. - [David] We have one of
the highest concentrations of UFO activity, specifically regarding
these triangular UFOs. - [Narrator] In the early 1980s, New York's Hudson
Valley was the scene of possibly the largest mass
sighting of UFOs in history. (static crackling) - We're very close proximity
to roughly 14 million people. Absolutely busiest
parts of the country, both in terms of
avionics, air flights. - This is one of the heaviest
traveled air corridors within our country. We have these unusual objects
moving in our airspace. It begs to be answered. (soft dramatic music) - I'm a retired lieutenant from the Yorktown
Police Department. This sighting's
burned into my mind. - [Narrator] Police
officer, Kevin Soravilla, was one of the first witnesses. - In the spring of 1983, I was on routine
patrol on Route 118. I observed a large craft
approximately 100 yards from wingtip to wingtip. It then stopped over
the Business District and it made a 45 degree turn and started to head
westbound along Route 202. - So I was taking my
dog out for a walk and all of a sudden, I noticed something
sitting above my head. - I was so in awe
of this object, I couldn't believe
what I was seeing. This craft made no
sound whatsoever other than a very
slight humming noise. - Completely silent, it hovered, and then it banked immediately
doing a 45 degree turn and shot across, is the only
thing I can say, very fast. It was gone within a second. (curious music) - When I responded to
the police station, the phones were
ringing off the hook. Myself, desk officer, and a
highway department employee went out to the courtyard. Then, in about five minutes, the craft moved directly above
us, right over our heads, less than 500 feet in elevation. At this point, I was
totally confused. I had no idea what this was. I didn't know whether it
was maybe a military craft or possibly a UFO. - [Narrator] If it
was a military craft, the most likely source would be Stewart Air
National Guard Base in nearby Newburgh, New York. - Stewart Air Force
Base is right nearby and they were housing,
at the time, the C-5s. And the C-5's wingspan
is 220 feet wide. - [Narrator] The
C-5, seen from below, could be mistaken
for a triangle. - [Kevin] I directed
the desk officer to call Stewart Airport, if they had any type
of object on radar. Desk officer got back to me indicating that nothing was
indicated on their radar. - [Narrator] Stewart
reported no flights in or out of the
base that night. (engines roaring) (ominous music) Later, in the fall of 1983, the triangles allegedly returned
to the Hudson Valley area. This time hovering
over a major highway. - These were so significant that we had multiple
motorists pulling over off the Taconic Parkway-
- [Chris] Wow! - That was literally
causing a traffic jam because everyone was
getting out of their cars to look at these objects. - When we got near the
object, it was huge. And everybody that was
driving on the Taconic Parkway pulled off to the
side of the road. - The interstate had
come to a complete stop and I could see about 50, 60
people outside of their cars looking up above their heads. - [Narrator] For Marler, these
sightings are significant because the witnesses didn't
just report seeing lights, as with many UFO sightings, but the clear outline of
a triangle-shaped craft moving slowly at a hover. (aircraft warbling) (gentle music) - Definitely triangular in shape and going very, very slowly. I almost felt I could
almost walk faster than it. So, so slow. - It was in the shape
of a V for Victor. We were thinking, "Was
it extraterrestrial?" I mean, if it was some
kind of a new spy ship, what were they doing
hovering over the parkway? - [Narrator] But had the
residents of the Hudson Valley mistaken something commonplace
for something extraordinary? - I think that there's
got to be a connection between what people were
seeing on TV and in films and what they said that
they were seeing in the sky. (soft dramatic music) - [Narrator] Leading UFO
expert, David Clarke, says civilian witnesses are
often highly susceptible to cultural influences. - From the 1970s onwards,
you get this increasing trend for people to see giant
triangular objects or wedge-shaped objects. And I think the easiest
place to look for an answer is popular culture. Now, the film that I remember
seeing from childhood, which had a huge
triangular-shaped or wedge-shaped object, was the very first
"Star Wars" film. When was that released? 1977. You get the huge Imperial Star
Destroyer coming into view. Strangely enough, this is
the same period of time that people start seeing these huge dark
triangular-shaped objects with pulsing lights
moving silently across the countryside at night. (eerie music) - [Narrator] For David Marler, the volume of sightings,
their consistency, and the craft's alleged
hovering behavior, coupled with sudden
accelerations leads him to believe this was not American
military technology. - There are some
unusual characteristics that argue against the
military explanation. You look at that and
in addition to that the ability to hover and
then rapidly accelerate and, as many
witnesses have stated, "Within the blink of an eye, "it went from one
portion of the sky "clear over to the other," it just doesn't make any
sense from the conventional, aerodynamic principles.
- It's bizarre, it is bizarre. (mysterious music) - [Narrator] David
Marler has delivered crucial new information to Chris Mellon's
triangle investigation. But Mellon still has questions. Could the Hudson
Valley mass sighting be of something else
developed by the military? Something so Top Secret
that it might even require covert testing over an
unsuspecting population? (dramatic music) Coming up on "Unidentified." (digital chirping) - Hey, Lue.
- Hey, Chris. - How are ya, man?
- Good. - Good to see ya. - [Narrator] Chris Mellon
is debriefing Lue Elizondo on his investigation
into triangle UFOs. - [Lue] So how did Utah go? - Outstanding, met a
gentleman named David Marler, who is a treasure trove
of information on UFOs. These reports from a former
Army Soldier in the desert to a police department
in Illinois, and find the same precise
description time and time again. Hundreds of cases, at a minimum, the evidence is very
persuasive and compelling. (curious music) - [Narrator] Triangles have
been spotted in the skies all over the U.S. According to eyewitness reports, they fly low, display
lights in each corner, and are capable of hovering
and instantaneous acceleration all with little to no sound. - It's highly
credible information. (graphics whooshing)
(static crackling) - [Narrator]
Instantaneous acceleration is one of the five observables identified by Lue Elizondo
while at the Pentagon to track flight
characteristics common to UFOs. - These objects fit very neatly within some of the observables, the five observables
that my program, AATIP, was able to identify. And that is first one being
instantaneous acceleration. (graphics beeping) - [Narrator] Some speculate that the Hudson
Valley sightings, which occurred 50 miles
north of New York City and were witnessed by
hundreds of civilians, might be explained
by military testing. Chris Mellon wants to
know if the U.S. military would ever have any reason
to fly a Top Secret plane over a heavily
populated civilian area. - The stealth fighter,
the F-117 Nighthawk, because of their mission had to start flying
over populated areas. (engine roaring) - [Narrator] The V-winged F-117 was designed to
bomb urban areas. So former test flight
engineer, Bill Scott, says the military
would have good reason to test it over cities. - Guys flew right over
big city Los Angeles. At night, they had a
certain way of doing it. They spaced out each airplane
like six minutes apart. Sometimes, you wanna see
what the reaction is. How many reports do we get? Are the phone lines
and 911 lines flooded? That's great data if
you're developing something that you may wanna use
in an urban environment. (dramatic music) - [Narrator] But the
Hudson Valley witnesses didn't describe a
fast-moving bomber. They saw a giant,
slow-moving aircraft, very similar flight
characteristics to what was described by Gulf War veteran, J.T. - It was a triangular formation. There was absolutely no
noise associated with it. And it was moving so slow,
like a blimp or something. I mean, moving just
that quietly and slowly. - [Narrator] Bill Scott says
a military source told him he witnessed something
at Edwards Air Force Base in the 1980s that
may hold the key, the test flight of a craft similar to the large
hovering triangle spotted in the Hudson
Valley and elsewhere. - He watched this
thing slowly climb, going a little
faster than he was. He described it as a
very large triangle, but with very blunt
wingtips and nose. And he said it was
kinda thick, too. And we're pretty certain that it was part of
a new type of vehicle that we called a near-neutral
buoyancy, rigid-hull airship. - [Narrator] Rigid hull airships are similar to the
Zeppelins of old. Powered by hydrogen gas, but reimagined with
incredible new technology. (static crackles) During the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. Air Force
spent $200 million to develop a recognizance
airship called the Blue Devil. It was outfitted with
sensors, cameras, and listening devices. The program was
scrapped in 2012. (film reel clicks)
(static crackles) The original airships of last
century may have blimp-shaped, but the rigid-hull
airship design described to Bill
Scott was triangular. (static crackles) - What would it be good for? Well, it could be a
very stealthy vehicle. So the best guess,
and that's all it was, was that maybe these
were vehicles being used by the Special Ops guys. They could get 'em
in behind the lines and not be detected and get out. (static crackles) - [Narrator] These new
airships could carry large numbers of
troops and equipment and were designed to
fly nearly silently under the cover of night
to avoid detection. They could account for
some triangle sightings, but can it explain them all? (intense music) - [Narrator] The trail
of triangular UFOs has led Chris Mellon to
the Canyonlands of Utah and to investigate mass
sightings in Illinois and New York. (graphics beeping) Now, he wants to
see if his partners can help him put the pieces
of the puzzle together. (suspenseful music) Jim Semivan is a former
CIA Operations officer. Steve Justice helped run
Lockeed Martin's Skunk Works, which built some of America's
most advanced warplanes, like the SR-71
Blackbird and F-117. - Would you agree that it would be extremely
difficult to hide this? - If it's as large as
what they're describing, yeah, it's just
that much harder. - [Jim] Okay. - [Narrator] The team is
tackling the central question at the core of
Mellon's investigation, are triangle UFOs the
work of a long-running, still classified
government program? (suspenseful music) - Early days of Stealth,
there were just tons of rumors of something going on before
the airplane showed up. And so it's not unprecedented. - You're intimately familiar
with tests and development of cutting-edge
stealth aircraft. When we look at the
pattern of observations of these triangles,
in the United States, the continental United States, in and around municipal
areas, urban areas, is that the kind of thing we do? - The testing that
I'm familiar with, we were restricted
to test areas. The pattern of behaviors
of these things just makes no sense to me
from a test standpoint. - Why would you want this thing
flying over populated areas, which they have, and over
military bases, which they have? Why would you want to
expose your technology? - Right, so if you're trying
to keep something secret, why would you fly it over a
major populated U.S. city? - It doesn't make any
sense that it's ours. There's a social aspect and
a legal aspect of this, too. So you're driving home. You're with Mom and Pop and
two kids in the backseat and all of a
sudden, at 200 feet, a massive triangle
comes over your head and scares the living daylights
out of everybody in the car. How would they
possibly justify that? - [Chris] Right. - [Narrator] The group
of former insiders is unanimous in their belief
the U.S. military wouldn't test highly sensitive experimental
planes over civilian areas. But Mellon's
investigation discovered another possible explanation, an airship designed
for the War on Terror. - The slow speed, the
relative silent nature that these things are traveling, could it be some sort
of semi-rigid airship that we're seeing? Are they capable of accelerating
in the way that people- - No, no.
- Some people are describing? - No, no, these are giant
lumbering elephants. - These triangular aircraft,
whatever these are, have the ability to float
silently like a balloon and then, all of a sudden,
now they've achieved this incredible acceleration
and hypersonic velocities and are absolutely gone. - [Narrator] With the alleged
ability to hover silently and then instantly
achieve hypersonic speeds, the team concludes triangles defy any known
aviation technology. - They typically have a
configuration of lights, one in each corner and one
in the middle underneath. The one in the middle
underneath is often red. (air whooshing) - [Narrator] The
three cornered lights were found in each case
Mellon investigated, from the recent sighting in Utah to the Hudson Valley
40 years earlier. He believes these
lights are key, permitting detailed and
triangulated data collection. (mysterious music) - Why would you build and
operate a craft in that manner? Why would you want something
that large that flies that low and flies slow, has
that triangular shape? If you wanted to map a
surface in exquisite detail, you'd fly low, you'd fly slow. - [Narrator] For Mellon, a
mapping operation would be at the center of any potential
recognizance mission. - Triangulation is a
way to measure things in extraordinary detail. And if it's really as
advanced as it appears to be, it might be able to
collect information for not only what's on
the surface below it, but perhaps the subsurface. It might collect on the
wiring, the plumbing, the 3-D. - Well, Chris, we
call it triangulation because exactly that. You're using three points,
data collection points, to collect pinpoint
accuracy on a point. - Exactly, so I don't
believe these are ours. (dramatic music) I am hopeful that we can make
headway in discovering where at least some of these
things are coming from and how they work. (light music) - [Narrator] After investigating multiple sightings of triangles, Mellon has urgent new questions. Are the mysterious vessels
on recognizance missions? And if they are, what are the national
security ramifications? - [Chris] One of the
lessons of history is, when you detect a
potential threat, you need to pay attention
and investigate it. When Cortés landed in
Mexico in the 1500s, he was viewed as
potentially the fulfillment of an ancient Aztec prophecy
and possibly as a god. But, unfortunately
for the Aztecs, they didn't take the
trouble to investigate, to understand a potential
threat, a potential adversary. And they lost
everything as a result. (dramatic music) It's a matter of trying to
help the people in government understand that this is
something that is real and needs to be taken seriously.
