Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
UFO Sighting Over 9/11 Memorial, New York At UFO Alert Level 3!
By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 29, 2011
Modified Oct 15, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 29, 2011
Modified Oct 15, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
All you gullible sheep out there will glance at this photo and dismiss it as just a pizza box blowing in the wind, and that's fine. That's how you live your lives, head buried in the sand as the lizard people in The Syndicate tighten their greasy grip around your complacent throats! But the Mutual UFO Network knows better. A photographer shooting lower Manhattan from The New Museum recently snapped several shots of this mysterious, diamond shaped UFO in the air near the World Trade Center site, and he or she wants to believe. On the UFO sighting message board, this person writes:
The event occurred last Saturday 9-17-2011. In the early afternoon. I was taking digital photographs from the roof terrace of the new Museum located on Bowery in Manhattan's Lower East Side. I was shooting a series of images of the downtown Manhattan skyline to get some pictures of the Freedom tower construction.
Because I had no tripod I was shooting at a very fast exposure rate 1/500th of a second. In addition I was shooting in continuous mode at a frame rate of about 4 Frames per second. I took my pictures and left the location. Last night upon looking at the images, I noticed a diamond shaped object moving very close to the horizon in four frames of my images.
On closer inspection I noticed what appeared to be regular markings and windows on the craft. I had to be moving at an incredible rate of speed for it to have moved as far as it did give the frame rate it was captured at. It seems to be faintly emitting both blue and red light from the openings on its back area. A helicopter was also present in the nearby vicinity. At first I thought it was a flag or something, but soon realized there was no flag pole and from frame to frame it's shape stays regular. I'm hoping an expert in this type of thing can help me to rule out any other possible explanations for what they think this might be.
The Examiner (ahem) reports that New York State is a current UFO ALERT 3 rating, with a high number of UFO sightings nationally. New York had 46 reports in August 2011, the 5th highest reporting state. The last time we recall this happening was in Williamsburg, so it seems the aliens, having tired of probing hipsters, are now more interested in studying how our pitiful government wastes billions of dollars. We wish them luck, and hope they know not to get caught taking photos! [Via Bowery Boogie]
Tagged
aliens
ufo
world trade center
wtc 1
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. ET
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .