NUFORC Sighting 88531

Occurred: 1983-11-01 21:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2012-04-20 00:01 Pacific
Duration: about 15 min
No of observers: 5

Location: Kingston, NY, USA

Shape: Triangle
Characteristics: Lights on object

1983 Hudson Valley UFO sighting

Dear UFO Center:

I am writing this to report a UFO sighting my family and I had in approximately November of 1983 when I was an 8-year-old child. (I am 36 now.) I was only recently reminded of this event because I had listened to a brief clip of a past episode of the radio show Coast to Coast AM regarding the Hudson Valley UFO sightings of the early-mid 1980s, and wanted to add my recollection to your database.

One evening around November of 1983, my family and I were on our way home from dinner at a local restaurant. If I remember correctly, it was about 9:00 at night. As we pulled into our driveway, we noticed what appeared to be a triangular-shaped craft of some sort slowly traveling north along the path of the Hudson River. (This would be about 1 mile north of the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge.) The craft appeared to be 4 or 5 separate white lights arranged in a triangular pattern, and flew perhaps 500-1000 feet over our house. It was moving about the speed of a small prop airplane (if I had to guess I'd say maybe 80 or 90 mph.) If you were to extend your arms above you with your two hands spread towards the sky, that would be about the area this craft covered above us.

What was strange, however, was that every so often one or two of the lights would switch positions in the arrangement, so I believe this was not one whole craft but 4 or 5 separate ones, because I also could see no structure directly between them. If I remember correctly as well, these lights slowly turned around as one unit and began heading south for about 5 minutes, then turned due north again.

I do not remember them making a sound or doing any other strange motions, and they just continued on, slowly heading north of our position.

Around the same period, I vaguely remember hearing that there were a team of hangliders or ultra-lites copycating the rash of sightings in that area, (perhaps to cash in on the notoriety), so I am not really sure if my sighting was one of these alleged copycat teams or a real unidentified flying object. The thing that made us believe it was not hangliders or ultra-lites was because we did not hear any engine sounds that would normally be associated with them.

Thank you for your consideration.

NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that date of sighting is approximate. PD

Posted 2012-05-13