UFOs and USOs in Key West
Key West is known for ghosts, shipwrecks, and sun-soaked weirdness—but look up, or down, and you might catch a glimpse of something far stranger. For decades, this island at the edge of the map has been a quiet hotspot for UFO sightings, military radar anomalies, and—more recently—unexplained lights beneath the waves.
It all began in 1950, when Navy radar at Boca Chica tracked two fast-moving aerial objects. Fighters were launched, but the craft vanished without a trace.
In 1951, a Navy pilot flying between Bimini and Key West reported a classic flying disc: silver, sharp-edged, and silent. It hovered, then disappeared—filed away, and never explained.
Then came July 26, 1952. A glowing red object hovered over Key West, made impossible maneuvers, and vanished into the night sky. Fighter jets were dispatched, radar from as far as Maryland lit up with matching anomalies, and a destroyer was sent to investigate. The official Project Blue Book designation? “Unknown.” No pilot debriefs, no radar logs—just a single-page summary, and silence.
But 1953 was the year things really got weird.
June 18, 1953: A Navy warrant officer and his wife saw a bright, pulsing light dart across the sky near Big Spanish Key. The Air Force labeled the sighting “unfamiliar and unrecognized.”
June 19, 1953: A fisherman near Marathon spotted a glowing green semicircle pulsing in the sky, then disappearing at a sharp angle. That same night, another group saw a green, wrinkled disc streak across the sky at over 3,100 mph. Their personalities and alcohol intake were noted in the report—but so was the consistency of their stories.
July 18, 1953: A serviceman at the Key West Naval Station saw a glowing object in twilight. It hovered for 45 seconds before fading.
July 24, 1953: A Fleet Sonar School student watched a pinpoint of light arc across the sky and blink out over the eastern horizon. Investigators chalked it up to a possible searchlight—but the smooth motion and total silence didn’t quite match.
Then, a decade later, it happened again.
In 1963, a glowing amber cigar-shaped craft hovered over Key West. A Navy weather observer and a civilian couple all saw it. It hung motionless, then shot upward into the clouds. Investigators admitted: “This incident cannot be explained.”
And in 1967, the Radar Grid Encounter left even more questions. Eight fast-moving objects were tracked on radar at both Naval Air Station Key West and Homestead Air Force Base, flying in perfect formation. Pilots were scrambled. One described a silvery orb "moving like a meteorite, but flying level." The objects vanished toward Cuba—followed by rumors that a Cuban MiG scrambled in pursuit... and was never seen again. FOIA requests for records came back empty.
By 1997, the sightings hadn’t stopped. A couple driving in a rainstorm saw two hovering, metallic-gray objects—silent, unmoving, and huge. No radar data, no FAA logs, no explanation.
In 2011, fishermen in Key Largo spotted a large, boomerang-shaped craft gliding silently overhead with steady white lights beneath its wings. It never made a sound, and never showed up on flight records.
And in 2023, things got even stranger—beneath the waves. A cruise passenger posted about underwater lights off the coast of Key West, zigzagging below the surface. A retired Coast Guard officer chimed in anonymously, saying they’d seen similar flashes “all the time,” and that the waters off Key West were “some of the strangest he ever patrolled.” Official logs show nothing. But that’s the thing—classified sonar data doesn’t show up in public databases. Not for decades.
From glowing discs and radar grids to mysterious lights deep underwater, Key West’s skies and seas have told a story for years. A story of sightings logged by military personnel, civilians, radar techs, and cruise passengers alike. And yet—despite declassified documents and detailed reports—most cases still end with that same frustrating phrase:
“Insufficient data for further analysis.”
Maybe that’s the most chilling thing of all.
