See any UFO’s in Northwest Florida? Department of Defense officials want to know about it

WASHINGTON — If “the truth is out there,” as the tag line for the old “X-Files” TV series insisted, it might just be flying across Northwest Florida skies — and the government wants to know about it.

Earlier this month, the Department of Defense (DoD), under some pressure from Congress in the wake of sightings of thus-far unidentified flying objects in military airspace, established an Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force.

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In the dry words of a Department of Defense news release, the department established the task force “… to improve its understanding of, and gain insight into, the nature and origins of UAPs.” But, perhaps more than just improving its understanding of UAPs, the task force wants “to detect, analyze and catalog UAPs that could potentially pose a threat to U.S. national security.”

If that’s the case, task force members might want to turn their their eyes, telescopes, radars and whatever other equipment might be available to them to the skies over Florida.

Currently, at least in terms of reports submitted to the National UFO Reporting Center,a Washington state-based private organization that investigates UFO sightings — “and/or alien contact,” its website notes —  Florida trails only California in terms of the number of UFO reports on file. NUFORC records show 9,979 UFO reports from Califonria, with Florida an admittedly distant second at 5,585 reports, which is still a respectable number ahead of third-place Washington state, with 4,096 reports.

Peter Davenport, the longtime director of NUFORC and a believer in UFO, or UAPs, or whatever, greeted news of the task force with enthusiasm in a Tuesday interview.

“I’m pleased to see the government moving in a positive direction,” he said, calling the UAP issue “the most important scientific question” to face mankind. And, he said, he believes the government and its military services, long equipped with powerful radars and other equipment that they boast can detect objects the size of a basketball thousands of miles out in space, already knows the reality of UAPs.

As a matter of local interest, a good number of Florida’s reports — NUFORC’s records go back to 1947 — come from the northwestern part of the state. Perhaps that’s not surprising, considering that aircraft from Tyndall Air Force Base, Eglin Air Force Base, Naval Air Station Pensacola, Naval Air Station Whiting Field and other military installations are a regular presence in the skies.

But, still … how for instance, to explain the latest report to NUFORC from Northwest Florida, a 9:30 p.m. July 4 incident in Crestview?

Here is the report submitted to NUFORC: “6 UFOs and alien noises in neighborhood: My wife and I were walking our neighborhood watching fireworks. Just after dark I noticed 2 flickering firey (sic) globes moving in an unusual pattern, just over our local airport. My wife thought they were firework burnoff pieces until 4 more appeared and we realized they had other lights ,and were all the same shape. … They appeared to become translucent before becoming completely invisible. Right after they disappeared, a sharp noise made both of us duck. The noise pierced our ears about 3 or 4 more times. The sound was almost painful.”

And then there’s this report to NUFORC of an April 29 incident on Interstate 10 near Holt:  “… I see this weird metallic object just sitting in the sky. The more I watched it, I realized it didn’t have wings. And it wasn’t moving. At all. The thing was literally just sitting in the air. I was telling my mom, over the phone, this was the freakiest thing I’ve ever seen, and trying to explain how it looked when it suddenly started moving.

It didn’t accelerate fast like most UFO videos show, but instead just kind of putt-putted across the sky. … The area I was driving from does see regular activity regarding military helicopter fly-overs … (b)ut this was not a helicopter, there were no propellers. No anything, it was just sitting there, perfectly still like it was painted onto the sky.”

And this April 13 encounter reported from Pensacola: “Craft was moving slowly to the east/SE and appeared to be less than 1,000 feet above me as I could see flames shooting out from underneath as it went directly over my vehicle as I was driving west on Cervantes (Street) near Palafox (Street).”

And then there’s this Jan. 16 report from Panama City: “I was standing outside … and when I looked up at the sky and seen a bright green circle (for about 8 secs) that was going faster than any Air Force jet that they have it was over Tyndall Air Force Base. The next day some friends said they seem the same thing.”

For its part, the DoD is looking at the UAP issue from a personnel safety point of view,and is casting its interest in the phenomenon as a security concern rather than an attempt to discern the nature of any unexplained phenomenon..

The release goes on to note that the DoD “take(s) any incursions by unauthorized aircraft into our training ranges or designated airspace very seriously and examine each report. This includes examinations of incursions that are initially reported as UAP when the observer cannot immediately identify what he or she is observing.” 

Northwest Florida Reports of UFOs

Florida has more than 5,000 UFO reports in the National UFO Reporting Center as of Sept. 29, 2016. Here’s a breakdown of reports across the area. For more information, visit nuforc.org.

Gulf Breeze: 20

Navarre: 27

Mary Esther: 3

Fort Walton Beach: 18

Shalimar: 8

Valparaiso: 1

Niceville: 6

Destin: 35

Santa Rosa Beach: 5

Freeport: 3

DeFuniak Springs: 1

*** This article has been archived for your research. The original version from The Northwest Florida Daily News can be found here ***