What is that UFO in the Long Island sky? Probably not life from outer space
Stephen Lawrence, a Hofstra physics and astronomy professor, says UFO reports increase when Jupiter is visible. Credit: Rick Kopstein
After a Chinese spy balloon and three unidentified flying objects over North America were shot down by the U.S. military, it got some of us wondering about Long Island’s history of UFO sightings.
Long Island has been a UFO hotbed over the years. Reports were so numerous that the Long Island UFO hotline was established in the 1980s to report incidents. From 2001 to 2015, Suffolk County led the state with the most reported UFOs, when earthlings reported 554 sightings, according to “UFO Sightings Desk Reference” by Syracuse-based authors and couple Cheryl Costa and Linda Miller Costa.
The hubbub over the Chinese spy balloon and the recent spate of flying objects, which became a brief media and public sensation last month, showcase the extent to which people remain fascinated with what Steven Lawrence, an astronomy and physics professor at Hofstra University, calls “things we just don’t understand about the whole world.”
Long Island’s alleged activity hasn't disappeared — at least 19 UFO sightings were reported to the Washington-based National UFO Reporting Center in 2022, according to the group’s online database. Sightings were reported across the Island, including in Ronkonkoma, Valley Stream, Smithtown, Seaford and Port Jefferson.
So are space aliens scoping out Long Island?
The explanations of sightings are not as fantastical as extraterrestrials, Lawrence said. The sightings often end up being planets, like Venus or Jupiter, which are both very bright; UFO reports increase when Jupiter is visible, he said.
“Having a story to tell about it, whether it’s 2,000 years ago, you're making up stories about gods and religion, and now in a more modern frame and modern context, it’s super scientific alien beings, Lawrence said. "It’s comforting to know that at least somebody is in control. Somebody knows what’s going on.”
Sometimes, the sightings end up being space stations, which are large and white. Their position in the sky can reflect the sun’s light even when the sun has set, Lawrence said. When the stations enter the Earth’s shadow, it appears they quickly fade into nothingness.
The encounters often end up being plain ol' airplanes. Their lights can create “a perceptual illusion” depending on the plane’s position in the sky, the professor said.
"Just because you can’t think of an explanation doesn’t mean there isn’t another explanation,” Lawrence said.
Here’s a rundown of notable UFO sightings and rumors on Long Island.
Astronomers caught a glimpse
An article appearing in a 1973 edition of Newsday with the headline, "LI Saucer Story That Won't Go Away." Credit: Newsday
A slew of Long Islanders called Newsday about seeing UFOs in October 1973. Amateur astronomers Lee J. Gugliotto and James Paciello told Newsday they spotted “a yellow-red, starlight object” while they were watching meteors in Calverton. The two men were near the now-defunct Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant in Riverhead, which had an airport; the plant reported no flights during that time.
Long Islanders report 35 UFOs
The November 7, 1966 edition of Newsday featured an article titled, "UFO Sighted-What Next"?. Credit: Newsday
Multiple Long Islanders reported seeing a mysterious object hovering in the sky in November 1966. One woman on Corrigan Street in Southampton said she saw a “brightly lit object.” Her neighbor said the sparkly object had flashing red lights. College students Ira Littman and Dick Ehrbar said they spotted “a mass of light” that “lit up the sky” that quickly accelerated and shrank in size.
The U.S. Air Force dismissed the 35 sightings and said seven airplanes, seven satellites and 21 stars were responsible for the hoopla.
A case of mistaken identity
Around 5:45 p.m. on Oct. 28, 1959, Newsday’s phone began ringing off the hook. Long Islanders were phoning the newspaper to alert reporters that a UFO had been sighted. They weren’t alone — people from Virginia to New England called local newspapers and police with the same sightings. Aliens? Nope. A shiny, metallic space balloon that had traveled 250 miles above Earth.
Probed sightings
In 1977, Dick Ruhl, of Massapequa, was the prime Long Island UFO investigator for a national aerial phenomena research group. He told Newsday about two of his investigations: one involving bright oval lights that chased two women in a car in Fort Salonga and a spinning disc with white and red lights that appeared outside a woman’s window in Dix Hills.
Laser beams from the Northeast?
An article in Newsday's October 28, 1966 paper with the headline "'Bright Star UFO' Is Seen in Suffolk." Credit: Newsday
Six witnesses, including three police officers, told Newsday about a strange object they saw between 1:13 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. in Patchogue on Oct. 21, 1966. Suffolk Sgt. Enrico Maimoni and Officers James Tate and Fred Kruger told Newsday the object had alternating white, red, blue and green lights. The Air Force dismissed the claims and blamed lasers from an “East Coast laser experiment” as a possible cause. Another explanation? One of the two helium balloons outfitted with flashing lights that were stolen the week before from a North Amityville games manufacturer.
‘Strange objects’ over Moriches Bay
In September 1988, Newsday sent a reporter to spend an evening watching the skies with UFO buffs after reports of “strange objects” being spotted above Moriches Bay. The reporter had no encounters.
Flying disc spotted in Port Washington
On Nov. 21, 1985, a large flying disc was spotted over Bay Bowl in Port Washington. Kennedy Airport tower personnel dismissed the sighting as a prank by light-plane pilots.
Southaven County Park UFO crash
Some Long Island UFO enthusiasts, including John Ford, believed a large spacecraft wrecked in Southaven County Park. Ford founded a UFO investigative organization in the 1980s, which fell apart after he was arrested (he was found unfit to stand trial) for his role in a 1996 plot to kill three Suffolk Republicans he believed were covering up Long Island UFO activity. Ford was sent to the Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Center in upstate New Hampton, though a judge in 2019 ruled that he could be moved to a less-restrictive facility.
Ford believed the U.S. military shot down the spaceship in Yaphank, and the bodies of aliens were spirited away by government officials.
With Judy Weinberg
Brinley Hineman covers the Town of Hempstead and the City of Long Beach for Newsday. She previously was a reporter in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a West Virginia native.
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