The Pentagon’s latest UFO files have a little bit of everything: mysterious flying objects, strange seven-foot creatures running around on two-legs, alleged skinwalkers, and decades of sightings off the California coast. And that’s barely scratching the surface.
These are among the accounts contained in the seventh batch of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) records released by the Department of War on Oct. 23 as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to make government UFO files public.
The latest release includes 28 files, according to the department’s online archive, spanning Cold War intelligence reports, a 2010 investigation into purported paranormal activity in Utah and a 2026 incident involving three federal officials who reported an unusual triangular object. The records offer a glimpse into what government investigators and contractors have documented over decades. The files are part of the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE), launched in May 2026 to collect and release government records concerning unexplained sightings.
Perhaps one of the most stunning documents is a three-page memor from the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) describing a 2026 encounter at an undisclosed national security site in the western United States.
According to the memo, identified as DOW-UAP-D176, two federal agents witnessed what they described as a matte-black, triangular craft after a third official saw the object using thermal equipment from another observation post. The witnesses estimated that the object had a wingspan of 13 to 15 feet and a thin profile, with no visible cockpit, windows, propellers or other conventional aircraft features. The agents reported watching the object rise vertically approximately 200 to 300 feet above a ridgeline, where it remained motionless for about 20 seconds. According to their accounts, it suddenly accelerated.
The witnesses described the object transitioning from a stationary hover into quick horizontal flight, banking before disappearing into a canyon within seconds. They compared its apparent speed to that of a military fighter jet, although the report acknowledges that no instrumented speed measurement was obtained. The agents said what made the encounter particularly unusual as the absence of noise.
They reported hearing no engine, rotor, rushing air or other audible sign of propulsion. One agent also described observing the object through a handheld thermal device, reporting an apparently uniform heat signature without the concentrated hot spots typically associated with engines or exhaust systems.
A search of the canyon the following morning reportedly found no wreckage, impact marks or damaged vegetation.
The department says AARO considers the incident worthy of further investigation because its reported characteristics resemble those described in other regional sightings.
But the memorandum stops short of identifying the object or establishing that it possessed extraordinary capabilities. Its descriptions are based on witness observations, not independently confirmed performance measurements.
Another newly released file go into even stranger territory…
A 60-page report titled Utah Ranch Investigation details fieldwork conducted in March and April 2010 by Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), a contractor associated with the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program.
The program, active from 2008 to 2012, examined potential future aerospace threats and related research questions. The report describes investigators traveling to the Fort Duchesne area of Utah, interviewing residents and collecting evidence of what witnesses believed were unexplained creatures and lights.
Among the accounts recorded were sightings of large dog- or wolf-like animals allegedly capable of running upright on two legs. Yes, you read that correctly… chillling.
Investigators wrote that 11 separately interviewed witnesses had described such creatures, with some estimating their height at six to seven feet.
Other residents reported smaller, hairy creatures with unusually long arms, mysterious glowing orbs, enormous worm-like animals and birds resembling prehistoric flying reptiles.
One especially bizarre account involved a purported worm approximately eight feet long and two to three feet in diameter! But these were witness claims recorded by investigators, not verified discoveries of unknown animals.
The report also describes a resident who believed he had seen a “Skinwalker” moving rapidly past his home while being chased by dogs. Investigators subsequently collected fur from a barbed-wire fence where the witness believed the creature had passed. Wild.
BAASS personnel installed seven digital trail cameras around the ranch and nearby properties, conducted electromagnetic measurements and explored using plants as biological sensors for possible radiation or chemical exposure. The researchers even proposed using games, puzzles and other interactive methods in an attempt to communicate with whatever might be responsible for the reported activity.
The scientific results provide an important reality check.
A lab report found that three tested hair samples shared a canine DNA sequence commonly found in dogs. Another sample matched an existing reference sequence, over establishing an unknown species. The investigators also acknowledged that their plant experiments were too new to support conclusions about unusual mutations.
Credit: War.GovThe records document an extensive investigation into extraordinary claims, but they unfortunately do not substantiate the existence of skinwalkers or other paranormal creatures.
The latest release also revisits a series of sightings near Catalina Island, an area that has long attracted UFO speculation off the Southern California coast. One file describes a March 15, 1955, observation by Paul J. Carr of Avalon.
Carr reported seeing a bright orange object, apparently about the size of a nickel held at arm’s length, descending toward the island. The object reportedly changed from orange to red and remained visible for approximately two seconds. Although the sighting was preserved in Air Force records, investigators considered an astronomical explanation likely.
One assessment described the object as a probable meteor. Another indicated that the sighting didn’t warrant further investigation. Additional files in the seventh release touch upon reported sightings near Catalina Island in 1949, 1952 and 1953.
Their inclusion illustrates how far back the government’s collection of unusual aerial reports extends, even when individual sightings have plausible conventional explanations.
Another declassified Air Force report concerns an encounter over Saudi Arabia on Jan. 18, 1957. According to the intelligence document, a U.S. Air Force B-52 crew detected an unidentified radar return while participating in a Strategic Air Command mission. The return remained visible on the aircraft’s gunnery scope for five to seven minutes.
The crew reported that the unknown contact produced a smaller radar return than another B-52 operating nearby. When the reporting aircraft banked left, the unidentified return disappeared from the scope. The original report acknowledged that the disappearance might have resulted from the B-52’s change in direction, but recorded the incident because the return appeared where no aircraft were expected.
A diagram in the report shows where the mystery object appeared on radar compared with another B-52 bomber. As with the Catalina sightings, the Air Force never determined exactly what it was. But the report offers no proof that it was anything unusual, rather than another aircraft or a radar glitch.
The seventh release follows a government-wide effort launched earlier this year to locate and publish previously unreleased UAP records. The Defense Department announced the first batch of files on May 8, describing the initiative as an interagency effort involving the White House, intelligence agencies, NASA, the FBI and other federal organizations.
The department says some identifying information and details about sensitive government facilities have been redacted to protect witnesses and national security. Officials maintain that the redactions do not hide information about the nature or existence of reported UAP encounters.
The difference between unexplained and extraterrestrial remains up for debate. In its 2024 historical review, AARO said it found no verified evidence that government investigations had established extraterrestrial technology or that private companies were secretly reverse-engineering alien spacecraft. The office concluded that many sightings could be attributed to ordinary objects, misidentification or insufficient info.
That assessment has not ended public fascination with the subject, however. Not even close.
Whether those mysteries eventually yield explanations or remain unresolved, the government’s own files show that people have been reporting them for generations. The complete collection is available through the Department of War’s UAP disclosure archive.
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