Independent New Hampshire Journalism · Northfield, NHSomething You Can’t Explain
Lights that moved wrong, an object nobody could name, a camera that caught what no one in the room can account for. Send the footage. Granite State Report checks it before anyone calls it anything.
On September 3, 1965, two Exeter police officers reported flashing lights in the sky. The Air Force checked a bomber operation that had been flying that night, wrote to the officers, and noted that most of their sighting came after the bombers had landed. It put earlier sightings by other people that night down to the bombers. For the officers’ sighting, its record card gives the conclusion in one word: UNIDENTIFIED. What made the case checkable was a time, a place, and statements from the people who saw it.
That is the standard here. Granite State Report takes UFO and UAP reports and paranormal footage seriously enough to check them, against flight tracks, satellite passes, sky charts, weather balloon launches, other witnesses, and the camera itself. Most sightings turn out to have an ordinary cause, and GSR will say so. What still holds up after checking gets reported as exactly that, with the list of what was ruled out. For the history, read Exploring New Hampshire’s UFO History.
What to send
- The original file, straight from your phone or camera. Not a screenshot, a screen recording, or a copy saved from social media. The original can carry the date, the time, and the place your device recorded.
- When: the date and the clock time.
- Where: the town, the spot, and which way you were facing.
- What it did: how long it lasted, how it moved, and whether it made a sound.
- Who else saw it. A second witness or a second camera angle is worth more than a sharper picture.
Paranormal footage gets the same treatment: the original file, the place, the time, and anyone else who was there.
What you are agreeing to
By sending, you confirm and accept the following.
- You took the photo or video yourself, or you have the right to send it.
- You keep your copyright. Granite State Report may review what you send, show it to experts asked to help check it, and, if it becomes part of a story, publish it with the credit you choose under “Add details” in the box below: your name, or no name at all.
- Granite State Report decides whether and how to publish, publishes nothing on one person’s word, and does not pay for footage.
- Faces of people who did not agree to be shown, and anything that identifies a child, are blurred or cut before anything runs. If the exact spot you filmed from is private, say so in your note and it stays out.
How your name and contact details are handled, and the legal limits of what any newsroom can promise, are on Send a Tip.
Send it
Drop the file in the box. Nothing has to be typed, but the quick details are what make a sighting checkable. Any file type, up to 2 GB each and 50 at a time.
Drop files here, or paste
Drag files anywhere on this page, paste a screenshot or a file with Ctrl+V or ⌘V, or tap to choose. Any file type, up to 2 GB each, up to 50 files at once.
Choose filesAdd details (all optional)
Check it yourself first, if you like
- A line of lights moving together is probably a train of Starlink satellites, and the National UFO Reporting Center asks people not to report those. Heavens-Above predicts satellite passes, Starlink included, for any location, and can run the predictions for past dates.
- A very bright, silver-white light that sits still near the horizon is likely Venus, the reporting center says. Stellarium is free, open-source planetarium software that shows the sky for any date, time, and place.
- Aircraft that broadcast their position show up on ADS-B Exchange, which does not filter out military flights that are broadcasting and has a replay feature for past times.
- Something in the video that you did not see with your own eyes is probably the camera, the reporting center says.
Still doesn’t fit? Send it anyway. A list of what you ruled out helps.
How GSR checks it
- Time and place, from the original file and your note.
- The sky that night: aircraft broadcasts, satellite passes, planets and bright stars, and weather balloons, which the National Weather Service sends up from 92 stations, normally twice a day.
- People: other witnesses, police logs, nearby airports.
- The camera: zoom, focus, reflections in glass, lens flare, compression, and edits.
- Experts: astronomers and pilots, and for anything on the ground, people who know the place.
Every report ends one of three ways. Explained, and GSR says what it was. Unexplained after checking, and GSR publishes what was ruled out. Not enough to go on, and nothing runs.
Before you film
- Stay where you are allowed to be. Under New Hampshire’s criminal trespass law, a person is guilty if, “knowing that he is not licensed or privileged to do so, he enters or remains in any place” (RSA 635:2, I). No clip is worth a charge.
- Drones. Recreational flyers must pass the FAA’s free online safety test, known as TRUST, and carry proof of it. They must stay at or below 400 feet in uncontrolled airspace and need FAA authorization, through LAANC or DroneZone, to fly in controlled airspace near airports (FAA, Recreational Flyers).
- Voices on the recording. New Hampshire’s wiretap law, RSA 570-A, makes it a crime, with exceptions, to record a conversation without the consent of everyone in it when the speakers reasonably expect it is not being recorded. Sky footage rarely raises that. A camera indoors can. GSR’s guide: The Law That Decides When You Can Press Record in New Hampshire.
- Never film while driving. Pull over first, or let a passenger do it.
Other places to report
- The National UFO Reporting Center takes reports from the public through its online form. Its hotline, 206-722-3000, is for recent sightings only.
- The Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office takes reports only from current or former federal employees, service members, and contractors with direct knowledge of government programs. It says it will announce when the public can report (AARO, Submit a Report).
- Pilots: the office encourages civilian pilots to report sightings promptly to air traffic control.
- Anyone in danger: call 911.
