STEPHENVILLE,.
“On the evening of January 8, 2008, residents of Stephenville and the surrounding Erath County in central Texas reported a large, low-flying, brightly-lit object travelling silently across the sky.”
Witnesses included Steve Allen, a private pilot and freight company owner; Constable Lee Roy Gaitan; and a number of farmers, machinists and businesspeople. Allen estimated the object as roughly half a mile long with multiple bright lights along its leading edge.
Initial US Air Force statements denied any military aircraft activity in the area on that night. Two weeks later, after independent journalists pressed, the 301st Fighter Wing reversed course and stated that ten F-16s had been conducting training exercises out of Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth in the relevant time window. Witnesses said this contradicted what they observed and what they knew of nighttime F-16 training over their homes.
MUFON state director Steve Hilberg requested radar data from FAA Air Traffic Control Centers via FOIA. Researcher and physicist Dr. Glen Schulze, working with MUFON's Robert Powell, analysed approximately 2.5 hours of radar returns from five different FAA ground stations. Their report, published in 2008, identified an unknown radar return tracking through restricted airspace and proceeding in the direction of President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford. Two F-16s were also tracked, well separated from the unknown.
The Stephenville case is notable for combining mass witness testimony, multi-station civilian radar data, and the rare circumstance of formal military and FAA record reversal. The MUFON radar report remains the most detailed independent analysis of FAA data for any US UFO event. The object's identity has never been established.
Independent editorial summary. An unidentified report does not by itself establish an extraterrestrial origin. Map locations may be approximate.