Background

On October 26, 2018, this case was submitted to The Black Vault. It was assigned to TBV Investigations’ research Jeremy Enfinger for analysis.

Witness Testimony

The witness/photographer submitted the following information:

I was picking my grandchildren up from elementary school when I noticed everybody looking up in the sky I too looked up there and saw what I saw on the photos. The sighting date listed above (in the initial report) is wrong it was in 2014 I believe it was April. I couldn’t change sighting date on your program.

The sighting was reported to have occurred near the intersection of Thornton Rd. and Estate Dr. in Stockton, California around (or near) April of 2014. Four photos were submitted of an anomaly in the sky witnessed by multiple people (appearing in some of the photos).

The Evidence

The Analysis

Metadata analysis indicates the images are the original files, and EXIF metadata was able to be extracted. The image was taken from a Samsung SGH-T599N (5 MP) at a resolution of 1920 x 2560 pixels, using automatic exposure control with ISO 50, an exposure time of 1/2915 sec and an F-stop of 2.7. With the jpeg quality being 97%, there is no indication that the image file has been compressed. The flash was not utilized.

The time stamp on the metadata indicates it was taken May 9, 2014 at 14:14 hours. Due to initial research, no photo manipulation techniques were employed.

Initial impressions indicated the photo was not manipulated, and no evidence of motion was present when comparing images. There were, however, subtle changes in appearance around the periphery of the anomaly which caused me to consider some sort of meteorological or atmospheric disturbance.

After retrieving the metadata, multiple Google searches for “UFO Stockton, California, 2014” and “Clouds in Stockton, California, 2014” for the months of April and May of that year yielded several results. Image results were found that matched the appearance in these images and multiple news article links varied in headlines from May 9 to include “UFO sightings” to descriptions of cloud formations that can cause this kind of appearance.

Conclusion

After consulting the numerous articles citing this phenomenon, it can be summarized as a “Hole Punch Cloud”, which appears as a large, circular gap that usually appears in cirrocumulus or altocumulus clouds. Also called a “fallstreak hole”, it can happen when moisture in a cloud is at a temperature that’s below freezing, but the moisture itself is isn’t actually frozen. According to the Huffington Post, these formations can also be caused by aircraft passing through certain types of clouds.

References

Here was a FOX 40 submitted photograph from the same timeframe:

The Huffington Post also ran a story about it:

Also CBS Sacramento was another resource that covered it:

YouTube user MrPhath posted a video of it as well:

Original Metadata Information

Each photo was submitted to Fotoforensics, but for the purpose of this report, I will only include the link to one as the JPEG quality and metadata are corroborated in comparison.

Photo #1 Metadata (from FotoForensics): http://fotoforensics.com/analysis.php?id=d6040af2eb054b5764d749de34163b5000b459b0.1704869

JPEG last saved at 97% quality (estimated).

Quality determined from the quantization tables that encoded the JPEG:

JPEG Q0: Luminance

JPEG Q1: Chrominance

The post UFO Photographed in the Clouds over Stockton, California first appeared on The Black Vault Case Files.

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Background

by Christopher Connelly, TBV Investigations

The witness states that he was spending 3 days on the beaches of North Myrtle beach. He states that one the first night he began to see lights about a mile out at sea acting in ways that were unbecoming of any aircraft that he had witnessed in the past. The second night continued as such and on the third night, he states that the activity had increased significantly. This led to the witness grabbing his camera that had night vision capabilities and he filmed a 4 minute long video, capturing only a part of the encounter.

He describes the event as being totally quiet, except for the background noise of the local city and lasting approximately 15 minutes.

He describes the objects as “balls of light” and that they would burn bright for a while before dying down to a blinking like state. Witness was unable to visualize any shape or form to the objects. Witness states that he is of sound mind and body and that he has no experience in the aviation field.

The Evidence

• As the video begins, the light can be seen above the water and at 0:06 there are 2 lights visible, one being right below the other. About 3 seconds later, we see the light fade out into a blinking pattern and appears at about 0:22. Around this time, a second light can be seen in extreme proximity to the first light, as if attached. This light fades once again at 0:33 and returns to a blinking state.
• At 1:06, the witness pans around looking for the object only to find that it is now much close to the water than it was before the lights went out. At this time, multiple adjacent lights can be seen. It then dims back out.
• At about 1:51, it reappears and begins to make a vertical rise until about 2:00, when the witness pans to his left to see that there is another light over the ocean. Above this new light, you can see an obvious aircraft.
• The object is lost visually at about 2:48 and reappears at 4:10, at the same height above the ocean.

The Analysis

This video really grabbed my attention when it first hit my desk, as it was just an odd piece of evidence.

Unfortunately, being in night vision, it leaves a lot to be questioned in regards to the shape of these objects and that the video presented with no sound attached to it.

The maneuvers that were being demonstrated by these lights were almost helicopter like, for example the HH65 Dolphin, which is used by the US Coast Guard.

Vertical rises are common in helicopters and so are night operations at sea. The lights seemed to be going in and out, which was very unlike night time rescue operations, as it is extremely dangerous for both the aircrew and the pilots. However, pilots are trained to fly “blind” and learn to not depend on their computer systems or lights, which would explain the flickering that can still be seen, as the tail light would still be on.

As someone who has performed Search and Rescue (SAR), I know that swimming in darkness is not an uncommon thing and especially among the Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers, who are the best of the best in their fields. These operations would be common. 

It is unusual to have multiple Dolphins operating in one sector, due to our sector only having one attached to it.

The Coast Guard does perform large training operations but not near extremely small sectors such as Georgetown, where the Dolphin would have been stationed.

It could have been another Dolphin that may been attached to a visiting cutter and training operations were underway. The thing about these helicopters though, is that they are loud and not designed to be stealthy.

According to witness’ testimony, the area was silent and no helicopters were heard.

Conclusion

I turned to the Navy performing training operations, however, the Navy has no ports in the area.  Cruisers and destroyers do make regular visits to the port of Charleston.

This is where I began to straddle the fence between these being helicopters or something that I may not recognize. I contacted the USCG sector that was in charge of the area via their Public Affairs officer, but due to OPSEC, no information could be released about any past operations.

I spent a few hours watching and rewatching the video, but my military experience is guiding me towards the possibility that this may have been a Coast Guard or Naval night operation.

Of course, this is an educated guess and is formed solely on my interpretation of the evidence and the statements of the witness, so it should not be considered an “answer.”  

The post UFO Over North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, January 14, 2014 – Caught on Video first appeared on The Black Vault Case Files.

The post UFO Over North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, January 14, 2014 – Caught on Video appeared first on The Black Vault Case Files.

Location of Sighting: Prescott, Arizona
Date of Sighting: September 7 or September 14, 2014
Time of Sighting: 7:05 PM MST

The post Man Sees “A-Frame” UFO Fly South & Make Sharp Turn first appeared on The Black Vault Case Files.

The post Man Sees “A-Frame” UFO Fly South & Make Sharp Turn appeared first on The Black Vault Case Files.