Encounter Atlas

Creature index / UFOs and UAP

Orbs and lights

Also called Balls of light, Foo fighters, Ghost lights, Marfa lights

Glowing balls of light that pace aircraft, dance over deserts or hang in the night sky.

Glowing orbs are the most common kind of UFO report. In 1944 and 1945 Allied bomber crews over Europe and the Pacific reported balls of light following their aircraft, which they called foo fighters.

On the ground, the Marfa lights of West Texas and the Brown Mountain lights of North Carolina appear on many nights and draw visitors to official viewing areas.

Browse 10,622 US Air Force Project Blue Book case files on the map or by state.

What witnesses report

  • Glowing spheres, white, orange or red
  • Split apart or merge
  • Follow vehicles or aircraft

Famous cases

  1. 1883Marfa lights
    Marfa, Texas
  2. 1944Foo fighters
    Over Europe

Seen the Orbs and lights?

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Related

Flying sauceraka Disc, Flying discThe classic disc-shaped UFO that launched the modern era of sightings.Black triangleaka Flying triangle, Triangular UFOHuge, silent, dark triangles with lights at each corner.Tic Tac UAPaka Nimitz encounter, FLIR1The white, wingless object that US Navy pilots tracked from the USS Nimitz in 2004.Boomerang and V-shaped UFOsaka Boomerang UFO, V-shaped UFOHuge V-shaped or chevron formations of lights, gliding silently overhead.Green fireballsaka Green fireball, Project Twinkle fireballsBright green balls of fire over New Mexico's nuclear labs that the military investigated.Crop circlesaka Crop circle, Crop formationsPatterns flattened into fields overnight, long linked to UFOs.Skinwalker Ranchaka Skin walker, Sherman RanchA Utah ranch famous for claims of UFOs, orbs, strange animals and cattle mutilations.