By TIMOTHY BOLGER
From questionable orbs to planets mistaken for alien spacecraft visiting Earth, there continues to be no shortage of purported UFO sightings in the skies over Long Island, experts say.
Nassau and Suffolk counties have seen more than two dozen reports UFO sightings in each of the past two years, according to Cheryl Costa, author of UFO Desk Reference: United States of America 2001-2015.
“A single golden colored, circular UFO was perfectly still, relatively low in the sky,” an Elmont resident told the National UFO Reporting Center in June. “I have never seen something stay so still and so low in the sky before. The sky was fairly overcast and the object was visible underneath the clouds, so it was not a star or planet … Never seen anything like it!“
The U.S. and New York State is on track to record the most UFO sightings this year since 2014, Costa said. New York recorded nearly 200 sightings last year, according to multiple UFO observation groups.
Joseph Flammer, an LI-based field investigator with the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), said some reports are easily ruled out, while others are not.
“We receive a steady flow of reports, but after investigations we found many are reports of airplanes and planets—especially Venus,” he said. “One report from South Huntington arrived with a photo of a triangle of lights in the sky. MUFON’s photo expert was able to identify heat source in each of the lights, thus ruling this triangle a collection of lanterns that by chance fell into the formation of a triangle.
”On the other hand, the same expert studied a recent video from Valley Stream which showed light orbs crossing the sky and found they were genuine UFOs, no heat source, exhaust, contrails or even noise, and probably not manmade,” he continued. “The expert could tell us what they weren’t but not what they were. That’s always the biggest question. On Long Island, our major sightings typically involve orbs, often a group of seven or so at one time traveling in the sky.”
Sometimes, the unusual sightings are on the ground.
“I went out to look at something, and noticed unusual prints on our lawn,” an Old Westbury resident told NUFORC of tracks in the snow in January. “Clear footprints, but single, not two together, measuring 17 inches long. The prints are approximately 4 feet apart. Definitely not an animal, as they are huge single prints … Made my husband come out and see them. He was definitely freaked out by them, and we couldn’t figure them out.
“Even went by my local PD, and said, we’re not crazy, but these are on our lawn,” the complainant added. “We knew they wouldn’t do anything, we kind of all were kidding about a Yeti, but they definitely were trying to figure it out too … I was walking around the snow, and my foot just left prints, didn’t go down to the grass at all. These were all prints where the grass was showing, and therefore are very clear.”
