2008 · Erath County, Texas (Stephenville, Dublin, Selden, Comanche)
Stephenville–Dublin Lights
FAA radar: the unknown target south of Dublin, 6:51-7:03 pm · Glen Schulze and Robert Powell, Stephenville Lights radar study (2010), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0; FAA radar data
When8 January 2008, about 18:00–21:30 CST
WhereErath County, Texas (Stephenville, Dublin, Selden, Comanche)
Backing5 independent
Witnesses2 named
Evidencesensor data, official records
In their own words
“It was positively, absolutely nothing from these parts”
Steve Allen, private pilot, AP interview, January 2008 · source
On the evening of 8 January 2008, dozens of residents of Erath County, Texas reported very bright, silent lights. Some described a huge object, in one account "a mile long and half a mile wide", and some said military jets were chasing it. Named witnesses in AP coverage included a private pilot (Steve Allen), a machinist (Ricky Sorrells) and an Erath County constable (Lee Roy Gaitan). The Air Force reserve wing at NAS JRB Fort Worth (former Carswell AFB) first said none of its aircraft were in the area. About two weeks later it reversed itself and said roughly ten F-16s had been training there. Glen Schulze (a radar engineer) and Robert Powell (MUFON Director of Research) obtained 2.8 million FAA radar returns from five sites, covering 16:00–20:00 local, through FOIA. They reported primary-only (non-transponder) targets that matched several witness sightings in time and direction, including one tracked for about an hour heading towards President Bush's Crawford ranch. Their report and the raw FAA radar files are public. That makes this a rare UAP case where independent re-analysis is possible. No government body has analysed the unknown tracks.
Evidence, in date order (5)
- 2008Ricky Sorrellswitnessflat metallic craft seen through a rifle scope AP (Angela K. Brown), "Dozens In Texas Town Report Seeing UFO", via KVIA, 15 Jan 2008
- Jan 2008Constable Lee Roy Gaitanofficialsaid it was not an airplane AP (Angela K. Brown), "Dozens In Texas Town Report Seeing UFO", via KVIA, 15 Jan 2008
- Jan 2008Claudette Odomwitnessseparate witness who saw jets chasing Wade Goodwyn, "Air Force Alters Texas UFO Explanation", NPR, 24 Jan 2008 (via WVIA)
- 8 Jan 2008FAA radar (Schulze and Powell FOIA)sensor dataprimary-only targets matching witness sightings in time and direction Schulze & Powell, "Stephenville Lights: A Comprehensive Radar and Witness Report Study" (2010 revision) and raw FAA radar files, Zenodo record 10530422
- 23 Jan 2008301st Fighter Wingofficialrevised statement confirming ten jets in the area AP, "Military Now Says Jets On Training Mission During Mysterious Lights", via KVIA, 23 Jan 2008
How plausible · Very high
Named pilot, constable and other witnesses are matched by released FAA radar, and the Air Force changed its story.
- ●●Access Direct observation or instruments.
- ●●Cost of speaking Named on record.
- ●●No gain sought Nothing to gain.
- ●●Character record Trained professionals.
- ●●Independent convergence Independent sources agree.
- ●●Checkable details check out Released official records.
Plausibility weighs how well an account fits where secrecy hides the documents by design, so missing records never count against it. Strength measures what is documented. Assessed 2026-10-23.
On the record
- Air Force, first statement (AP, 14–15 Jan 2008): Maj. Karl Lewis, spokesman for the 301st Fighter Wing at NAS JRB Fort Worth, said no aircraft from the base were in the area. He said "I'm 90 percent sure this was an airliner" and "With the sun's angle, it can play tricks on you." AP also reported that Dyess and Sheppard AFBs said none of their aircraft were in the area.
- Air Force, revised statement (AP, 23 Jan 2008; NPR, 24 Jan 2008): military officials "now say they did have about ten jets on night training flights" from the 301st Fighter Wing. Lewis to NPR: "There was an error that was reported and we corrected that error as soon as possible." He knew of no unusual reports from the F-16 pilots, and as far as he knew they had not been interviewed.
- 10th AF FOIA reply (report p.10): the on-board radar Digital Recording Cartridge files for 8 Jan 2008 "have been overwritten".
- FAA radar (Schulze–Powell analysis, pp.20–46), all of it the authors' analysis of government data: Ten jets from Carswell flew through the area: sorties of four at about 17:52 and 18:15, and two at 18:29. Only the lead aircraft had transponders on. An aircraft on code 1462 flew a racetrack pattern at about 41,000 ft for the full four hours. The authors suggest it was an AWACS. Primary-only targets appear near Selden at 18:15:03, 7 miles north, with a second return 20 s later. Reading the two as one object implies about 2,100 mph. A slow primary-only target, mostly under 60 mph, was tracked from about 18:51 for over an hour, heading southeast towards the Crawford ranch. It was about 10 miles from the ranch at the last return at 20:00. At 19:32 the data show an apparent jump to 532 mph and back to 49 mph, which the authors concede "could be due to imprecision with the radar". The radar floor in the area was about 2,500–3,000 ft.
- Witness testimony on the public record (AP, 14–15 Jan 2008): Steve Allen, pilot: "It was positively, absolutely nothing from these parts". He estimated the object at about a mile long and half a mile wide. Ricky Sorrells described a flat, metallic object about 300 ft over a pasture behind his Dublin home, which he viewed through a rifle scope. Constable Lee Roy Gaitan: "it wasn't an airplane, and I've never seen anything like it." Claudette Odom (NPR): "Like an arc on a welder", and she believed the jets were chasing.
- BAASS's November 2009 report to DIA (DOW-UAP-D173, PURSUE Release 07) logs a recurrence over central Texas on 18 November 2009 with radar returns and jets.
Claims
A huge, silent object, by one estimate a mile long, flew low and fast with lights (chain: witnesses → Empire-Tribune (Joiner) and AP (Brown) → national media)firsthandSourced, unconfirmedSteve Allen (pilot) and others
A flat, metallic craft hovered about 300 ft over a field and was seen through a rifle scope. The AP excerpt I read does not date his sighting relative to 8 Jan (chain: Sorrells → AP and Empire-Tribune)firsthandSourced, unconfirmedRicky Sorrells
Military jets chased the object at low altitude (chain: witnesses → MUFON (anonymous) / AP. No jets below about 2,000 ft appear in the radar data. Schulze and Powell note they would be below FAA radar coverage)firsthandSourced, unconfirmedSelden witnesses and others
The object was 524 ft to about 1,000 ft in size (chain: anonymous witnesses → MUFON field investigators → authors' calculations. These figures rest on estimated distances and are not measurements)analysisSourced, unconfirmedSchulze and Powell, from witness angular estimates
The unknown target was heading for the Crawford "Western White House (analysis, with an interpretive element (heading))analysisSourced, unconfirmedSchulze and Powell. Whether it is meaningful that a slow target was on a southeast heading towards the ranch is speculation.
The military failed to react, or knew what it wasspeculationSourced, unconfirmedSchulze and Powell, who raise it as an open question.
Where
Erath County, Texas (Stephenville, Dublin, Selden, Comanche)
32.2°N 98.2°W
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Similar cases · sharing people, threads, topics or era
People and organizations
Jay Stratton personBAASS monthly reports to DIA (March, April, June and November 2009) documentInitial results from the first field expedition of UAPx to study unidentified anomalous phenomena document
Threads · click one to see it on the board
Sources
- Schulze & Powell, "Stephenville Lights: A Comprehensive Radar and Witness Report Study" (2010 revision) and raw FAA radar files, Zenodo record 10530422
- MUFON UFO Journal, August 2008 (abridged report, pp.3–8), Black Vault scan
- AP (Angela K. Brown), "Dozens In Texas Town Report Seeing UFO", via KVIA, 15 Jan 2008
- AP, "Military Now Says Jets On Training Mission During Mysterious Lights", via KVIA, 23 Jan 2008
- Wade Goodwyn, "Air Force Alters Texas UFO Explanation", NPR, 24 Jan 2008 (via WVIA)
- Skeptoid, Stephenville episode (skeptical view; not read in full here)