FBI-UAP-PR003, “Orbs Over the Pond,” 2024
In October 2024, at approximately 1851 local time in the northeastern United States, an eyewitness observed a light source below the horizon, hovering above a pond at an estimated distance of 2,700 feet. The luminous object resembled a “plasma-like sphere” intermittently changing shape and luminosity. At times, the primary light source appeared to separate into smaller luminous points. A luminous point below the primary source hovered just above the water and did not appear consistent with a surface reflection. The object remained generally stationary for approximately 45 minutes before disappearing. The eyewitness did not hear any sound from the objects. This video was captured by a private citizen on an iPhone and subsequently analyzed and authenticated by the U.S. Government. To protect the individual’s privacy, the footage has been cropped. Apart from this privacy-protective measure, no edits, enhancements, or alterations have been made to the visual content. The description above is derived from statements provided to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) by an eyewitness to the event. The FBI assesses the individual who reported this event as highly credible. The subject matter described in files FBI-UAP-D004 through FBI-UAP-D008 and depicted in the video footage FBI-UAP-PR001 through FBI-UAP-PR003 corresponds to reports originating from the same general area in the northeastern United States.
The summary above is sourced from the released file metadata as published to war.gov. The analysis sections below are original to this tracker.
Where this file fits in the PURSUE archive
This file is one of FBI's 86 files in the Trump PURSUE disclosure. Within the FBI agency block it ranks #3 of 86 by Anomalousness Index. Across the entire 294-file archive it ranks #7 of 294.
That places it tied with 26 other files at 66 - the densest single-score cluster in the archive, anchored by AARO-submitted military infrared captures.
Anomalousness Index: 70/100
Evidentiary weight that this encounter remains unexplained after conventional analysis. Not a probability of extraterrestrial origin - that number is not honestly computable from the released files and this tracker refuses to publish it.
🤖 AI-ASSISTED SCORING · methodology
The six rubric components break down for this file as follows. Each component has a weighted contribution to the final score; the per-component explanation below describes what this file's particular value on that component means in the rubric's framework.
Captured by a single U.S. military sensor platform (typically infrared, occasionally short-wave infrared or dual EO+IR), aboard a mission aircraft or operational platform. Instrumented, time-stamped, and recoverable. Lower than a multi-sensor capture only because cross-modality confirmation is the rubric's higher bar.
Federal agency personnel (FBI investigators or equivalent) recording the report into the federal investigative system. Investigative credentials, but typically operating in a reactive rather than mission-active posture.
Single-witness or single-instrument capture. Every file in the PURSUE archive scores at this corroboration tier on the released metadata - the rubric records the honest limit of the underlying record rather than inferring multi-witness corroboration that the released summaries do not establish.
No kinematic measurements - speed, acceleration, vector - are published in the released file with sufficient precision to score on the kinematic axis. The rubric does not infer kinematic anomaly from narrative observer estimates. Every file in the archive carries this value, which is itself an observation about the disclosure: kinematic-grade telemetry was not part of what was released.
A conventional candidate explanation has been considered but is not dispositive. Every file in the archive scores this way - reflecting that the underlying release metadata systematically caveats strong determinations in either direction. The released summaries warn against reading them as conclusive analytical judgments, and the rubric respects that.
Released as open after formal review by the originating agency. The file passed through a review process and was published in that posture - a stronger disposition signal than 'unresolved with no review,' because review has occurred and the open status is the agency's published conclusion.
Bottom line on the score: the Anomalousness Index of 70/100 reflects evidentiary weight that this specific file's encounter remains structurally unexplained by the rubric's six axes - it is not a claim that the underlying event involved anything non-conventional, and it is not comparable across rubrics that use different weights. For the full per-axis weights and the rubric JSON, see /methodology.
Related files in FBI
Other PURSUE files in the same category, ranked by Anomalousness Index.
FBI-UAP-PR004, “Northeastern Orb Sighting,” 2025
FBI-UAP-PR001, “Triangle Orbs,” Northeastern United States, 2021
FBI-UAP-PR002, “Red Orb Rotation,” Northeastern United States, 2022
FBI-UAP-PR005, Digital Recreation, Narrative Statement 3-1, Western United States Event, 2…
FBI-UAP-PR006, Digital Recreation, Narrative Statement 3-2, Western United States Event, 2…
FBI-UAP-D014, Digital Rendering, Narrative Statement 1-1, Western United States Event, 202…
Verification
SHA-256:
This hash is the SHA-256 of the file body war.gov served on the verification date above. War.gov has re-processed some file bodies since first release (re-compression + OCR, no content removed - see /changes); we re-verify and record the change rather than silently serve a stale hash. How to check this yourself →
Source (DVIDS): https://www.dvidshub.net/video/1010267/fbi-uap-pr003-orbs-over-pond-2024
Direct video file: https://d34w7g4gy10iej.cloudfront.net/video/2606/DOD_111764159/DOD_111764159.mp4