Sixty-Six Shadows Over New York: A Surge of UFO Sightings Baffles the Empire State

From the mist‑veiled edges of the Adirondacks to the flickering skyline of Manhattan, something strange is moving through New York’s skies. Between January and June of 2025, 66 unexplained aerial phenomena were reported by everyday witnesses, commuters, pilots, dog walkers, and night owls, each encountering something not easily dismissed.

While skeptics reach for explanations like drones or satellites, the stories echo across counties and cities like whispered confessions from another world.

A Statewide Pattern of the Unseen

The National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) cataloged 66 cases in just six months. That’s more than two reports a week, across locations ranging from Rochester to Ridge, Evans Mills to Patchogue, and deep into the shadows of New York City itself.

Descriptions vary, but a pattern emerges:

• Glowing orbs floating silently over tree lines.

• Metallic spheres shimmering just below commercial airliners.

• Triangular craft executing impossible maneuvers with precision and silence.

• Lights that zigzag, stop mid-air, then vanish as if swallowed by the dark.

One chilling case out of Chester, NY, occurred on March 25, when a local resident walking her dog watched two white orbs dart across the sky. They turned at perfect right angles, then, just as suddenly, turned pitch-black and disappeared. She described it as “like the sky swallowed them.”

A Close Encounter in the Sky

On June 24, a passenger jet descending into New York City from Toronto had an unscheduled guest.

A traveler seated by the window spotted a small, shimmering sphere moving against the direction of the aircraft, holding steady roughly 100 to 200 feet below the plane. It wasn’t a drone. It wasn’t a bird. And it wasn’t turbulence. When the passenger asked the flight crew, they said they saw nothing.

But the camera roll on his phone told a different story.

Evans Mills: A Silent Cluster

Several accounts came out of Evans Mills, a quiet town near a military installation. Multiple witnesses reported low-floating lights and fast-moving craft. The local chatter hinted at something more than passing satellites or tricks of the eye. With military proximity, some speculate secret tests. Others are not so sure.

“I know what military tech looks like,” said one retired airman. “And this ain’t that.”

History Repeating in the Hudson Valley

New York isn’t new to the unexplained. The Hudson Valley Wave of the 1980s brought mass sightings and mysterious craft so large they blotted out stars. The recent uptick feels eerily familiar to longtime researchers. Are we witnessing a new wave or the continuation of something that never left?

Since 1995, NUFORC has logged over 6,100 sightings across the state. But this year’s cases suggest more than statistical noise, they point to something active, present, and persistent.

Science, Skepticism, and Silence

Though NUFORC doesn’t verify or investigate, it provides an unfiltered ledger of human testimony. And this year, New York’s ledger has thickened considerably.

Explanations offered by analysts range from:

• Starlink satellites reflecting odd light angles.

• Drones flying in military formations.

• Weather balloons misidentified in dusk or dawn.

But none of those, as any true experiencer will tell you, explains the silence. The sharp turns. The shimmering metal that glides with purpose.

Final Thought: Something Watches, and Waits

Whether a flicker in the sky or a sphere below your plane, the unknown continues its slow drift over our most populated state. Maybe it’s always been here. Maybe it’s growing bolder.

One thing is clear: New York is looking up, and something is looking back.