The Hudson Valley Boomerang
For four years, people north of New York City watched a huge V of lights glide silently over their towns at night.
What was reported
Between 1982 and 1986, thousands of people in the Hudson Valley, in Westchester, Putnam and nearby counties, reported a giant boomerang or V-shaped formation of lights moving slowly and quietly across the night sky. Some described it as larger than a football field. Police stations were flooded with calls.
On one night in 1984, staff at a nuclear power plant reported seeing it close by.
Explanations offered
Investigators and journalists found that a group of local pilots had been flying light aircraft in tight formation at night with their lights on, sometimes switching them off to make the shape seem to vanish. Some witnesses insisted what they saw was silent and solid, and not a group of planes.
- When
- 1982 – 1986
- Where
- Hudson Valley, New York, USA
- Witnesses
- Thousands of residents
- Status
- Mostly explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.