The Chronicles Of Grant County

UFOs Seen In Grant County Part Seven Silver City

A sunset in New Mexico. (The photograph was provided courtesy of Mary Alice Murphy.)

In the first six parts of this series of reports of UFOs Seen In Grant County, The Chronicles Of Grant County, detailed information about UFOs that were seen in the skies above Buckhorn, Cliff, Fort Bayard, Gila, Hurley, Mimbres, Pinos Altos, and San Lorenzo.

This news column is the first of two that details information about some of the UFOs that were reported in the airspace above or near Silver City.

While the other communities had relatively modest numbers of reports of UFOs, there were 21 separate reports of UFOs in the skies above Silver City or nearby.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with the United States Secretary of Defense, reported on January 12, 2023, that it had submitted a classified report to the U S Congress detailing Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) in 2022. The Office also released an unclassified report to the general public.

As detailed previously, "Unidentified aerial phenomena" is the term used by the U S Department of Defense for what Americans usually call "Unidentified Flying Objects" or "UFOs."

Also, as noted in the previous parts of this news series, according to an unclassified report from the Federal government, no alien life from locales beyond the Earth was found in the U S in 2022. The unclassified report does not detail any specific incidents of a UAP being seen in New Mexico in 2022.

The National UFO Reporting Center, a private entity unrelated to the Federal government, publishes a database of reports from people who have reported seeing unidentified flying objects.

This database of self-reported sightings includes a number of reports of UFOs seen in the skies above Grant County in recent years. In some cases, the National UFO Reporting Center indicated in notes that the sightings were actually of or possibly of specific military activities or scientific events.

Please note that the reports listed here were lightly edited for spelling and punctuation for publication.

There was a two-second sighting of a UFO close to midnight on November 20, 2021. A report indicated that the individual "observed a very large, iridescent, green ball fall from sky and disappear behind a mountain range to my right as I was driving north" between Lordsburg and Silver City.

"Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a bright flash of light and turned my head to look out the passenger's side window," the individual reported. "I immediately saw a huge fluorescent green ball (the most beautiful color green I had ever seen) fall from the sky and drop behind a mountain range to the east. I believe the mountain range was perhaps the Pyramid Mountains or the Cedar Mountains and close to the Continental Divide. The 'ball' almost entirely filled up the passenger's side window from my sight point."

On May 5, 2021, an individual reported seeing objects above Silver City: "I saw seven flying craft with lights all flying in a line and then disappearing within seconds with no lights." The time was about 10 PM that evening; the event lasted about two minutes.

Four years earlier, on approximately August 1, 2017, a UFO sighting that lasted about five minutes was reported. The reporting individual stated that "there were lights on the object. There were aircraft in the vicinity or aircraft chasing the object: lights in high sky, moving too slow for [an] airliner, also inconsistent pattern, illuminated large craft, [and] in clear desert night sky."

"Sighting began with two lights flashing, similar to commercial aircraft lights in size and brightness, but not in that kind of repeating pattern," the individual stated in their report. "One light was brighter than [the] other as if facing opposite, then a large light came on between the other strobe-type lights, dim then brighter in a matter of seconds and seemed to illuminate [the] bottom of [the] large ship. Wish I had another way to describe it, but honestly [it was] similar to what we have seen in 'Star Trek' stuff. Big light went off and smaller lights came on, as noted, [with] inconsistent flashing so not [the] same as [a] commercial plane. Big light came on again, several times, illuminating [the] underside of [a] large ship or craft."

"This was at high elevation, guessing [at the] edge of atmosphere because many commercial planes fly thru that space of sky, guessing Phoenix to Chicago route, and this was higher than those flights, which occur dozens per night and I have watched them 100s of times over 10 years now from a clear sky area out in desert near City of Rocks State Park," the report from the individual continued. "The only portion of sky where these lights were seen was about the distance of sky that is relative to [the space between the] little fingertip to thumb tip when holding [one's] hand out at arm's length towards the sky, almost vertical. I thought perhaps [it was] a hot air balloon but why did it turn lights on and then off especially when near an area of heavy commercial traffic as well as the Grant County Airport, and I say hot air balloon because of the speed being much slower than the many, many commercial airlines flights I have seen through that area of sky, so I have much to compare these [flights] to and they were absolutely not ordinary air traffic…"

An individual reported that two people saw an object with "bright, very red [lights fly] south to west near Silver City, New Mexico," on September 14, 2014.

"[I] saw a bright, very red light approaching from the south, heading northwest toward the west – as if coming from Deming or Las Cruces and heading to Phoenix," according to the report filed. "It appeared to fly at about helicopter height and helicopter speed, but it made no noise and appeared only as a very bright, very red, unblinking light. The orangey-red or red color was pure with no other colors noted."

"It was at least twice the size that Venus appears, possibly more," the report continued. "It was visible for 90 seconds or more."

The report noted that "the two witnesses are unsure whether it flew in a perfectly straight line, or whether it flew first toward the city in a more northerly direction, and then arced westward when it approached, or was over Boston Hill south of Silver City."

In addition, the report also noted that "video was taken, but was hand-held and not very useful."

On April 28, 2014, an individual reported seeing an object with lights in the skies above Silver City.

During a two-minute time period, "two bright stars that moved and disappeared into the northern sky [were seen] at dusk in New Mexico," according to this individual. "I saw a star-type object in the northeast sky that was moving north and thought it was an aircraft without a blinking light. It simply disappeared after about 20 seconds."

"I kept watching the area and saw another coming from a slightly different area that also moved toward the north and disappeared as well," the report continued. "These looked like very bright stars, but it wasn't late enough for the normal stars to be seen as brightly. That is why I thought it was an airplane, but I have never seen an airplane disappear or not have blinking lights."

Additional reports of UFO sightings in the skies over Silver City will be detailed in the next edition of The Chronicles Of Grant County.

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