Hudson Valley, New York
41°25′N, 73°55′W — Lower Hudson Valley — Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, and Orange Counties, New York / Fairfield County, Connecticut
What's documented
The Hudson Valley UFO wave was a series of triangular- and boomerang-shaped craft sightings reported over the lower Hudson Valley and adjacent Connecticut between 17 March 1982 and 1986. An estimated 7,000+ witnesses filed reports, including police officers, IBM engineers, and at least one ABC news weather anchor. The case was investigated by Northwestern University astronomer J. Allen Hynek, by Center for UFO Studies investigator Philip Imbrogno, and by Bob Pratt of the National Enquirer.
Notable & intriguing
-
On 24 March 1983, an estimated 5,000 witnesses across Westchester and Putnam Counties reported a boomerang-shaped craft moving slowly south at roughly 1,000 feet altitude. The Taconic State Parkway was reported temporarily impassable as drivers stopped to watch.
Hynek, Imbrogno & Pratt, 'Night Siege' (Ballantine, 1987), Ch. 4
-
Indian Point Nuclear Generating Station Unit 3 in Buchanan, NY was overflown by an unidentified large lighted object at 10:20 PM on 24 June 1984, observed by security force at the plant. The incident was documented in an internal Power Authority of the State of New York memo dated 25 June 1984, obtained later under FOIA.
PASNY internal memorandum, 25 June 1984; Hynek et al., 'Night Siege' (1987)
-
The conventional explanation widely repeated in mainstream press — that the wave was hoax pilots flying small aircraft in formation from Stormville Airport — was investigated by Hynek's team. The 'Stormville Squadron' did exist (members admitted formation flying in 1983-84), but their flight schedule did not correlate with the majority of the reports, including those involving silent flight at low speed.
Hynek et al., 'Night Siege' (1987), Ch. 6
Public-record imagery
