Approximately five hours (approximately 8:00pm to 1:00am)
Witnesses
Multiple witnesses
Released
August 7, 2026
UAP Characteristics
○ OrbHoveringErratic movementLuminous
Evidence Types
Testimony
Official Conclusion
No conclusion stated; witness provided contact information and remained open to further FBI contact.
Official Description
This document is an FBI FD-302, a form the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) uses to record interviews. This FD-302 records a 2026 interview with a U.S. person, in which the interviewee describes three incidents potentially involving unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) in the western United States occurring within a 5-hour period in 2026. A second individual who was present at the time also provided an interview, recorded in this collection as “FBI-UAP-D040.” Two FBI digital renderings based upon the observer’s descriptions accompany this document, under the titles FBI-UAP-D038 and FBI-UAP-D039.
Key Findings
→The primary witness observed multiple unidentified dull-red lights over roughly five hours (approximately 8:00pm to 1:00am), including lights that moved along a ridgeline, hovered directly overhead, approached to within 400 meters, and descended to approximately 6 feet above the ground.
→Through Night Optical Devices (NODs), the dash-shaped lights appeared orb-like or circular with a characteristic NOD halo; the second witness perceived them as triangular or diamond-shaped, possibly attributable to astigmatism.
→The witness's mechanical analog watch was found to be approximately 25 minutes ahead of all digital clocks (phone, vehicle clock, and companion's digital watch) after the encounter, having been accurate at 10:00pm; the watch remained ~25 minutes fast afterward.
→The witness stated the objects exhibited no exhaust, no audible sound signature, and moved non-linearly with direction changes, ruling out satellites and UAS he was familiar with; thermal optics observation was attempted but unsuccessful.
→The witness noted no physiological fear or agitation response during the encounters, which he and his companion found unusual given their professional backgrounds.
UAP Insight Analysis— AI generated, not official
This FBI FD-302 (3 pages, dated 2026) records an interview with a heavily redacted witness who described multiple encounters with unidentified aerial lights over approximately five hours in a mountainous area of the western United States. The witness, described as experienced with Night Optical Devices (NODs) and familiar with conventional aerial phenomena, observed dull red, dash-shaped lights that moved non-linearly, approached to within hundreds of meters, descended near ground level, and were accompanied by an anomalous time discrepancy in his mechanical watch. A second witness was present and is documented separately in FBI-UAP-D040.
Analyst Notes
All witness names, locations, dates, and organizational affiliations are heavily redacted, limiting independent verification. This is a human-witness-only account with no corroborating sensor data confirmed (thermal optics were attempted but unsuccessful). The watch time anomaly has no confirmed cause and could reflect a pre-existing or mechanical fault, though the witness reported it had been reliable for five years. The dash vs. orb vs. triangular/diamond shape discrepancy between the two witnesses introduces ambiguity, with astigmatism explicitly noted as a possible confounding factor for one observer. No physical evidence was collected.
Extracted Entities
People
Redacted primary witness (male, 25+ years NOD experience, has astigmatism)Redacted second witness (companion, digital watch consistent with phone/vehicle clock)Redacted FBI Special Agent (interviewer)Redacted second FBI Special Agent (interviewer)
Agencies & Organizations
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Locations
Central/northern portion of redacted location, western United StatesRidgeline of mountains to the west of witness positionDry wash approximately 100 meters behind witness positionNext intersection from original observation point
AI analysis by claude-sonnet-4-6 · September 5, 2026
Two dull red, dash-shaped unidentified lights moving along a mountain ridgelineSingle unidentified light appearing directly above witness locationUnidentified light approximately 600 meters east and 500 feet above witness vehicleSecond unidentified light descending to approximately 6 feet off the groundUnidentified glow moving through a dry wash approximately 100 meters behind witnesses
Dates
2026 (year of incident and interview entry)Approximately 8:00pm–8:30pm (first lights observed)Approximately 10:00pm–11:00pm (additional lights observed)Approximately 12:40am–1:00am (watch discrepancy noted)