Mass UFO Sighting at Austin City Limits

Photo snapped by ACL-er

• When: October 12th, 2013
• Where: Austin
• What: Mass sighting of craft(?) with three red lights forming triangle, both hovering and moving

Story Updated 11/1: READ


Did you attend ACL last Saturday night? Did you check out the Cure? If so, you may be one of the many Austinites to have seen three lights in triangle formation hover and move about the sky, eventually disappearing.

LOADS of people went straight to MUFON to tell their stories, and one person also contacted TUS directly. So far, though I have no insights into what people saw. All we have is a photo and some great testimony (apparently it was quite an eerie experience).

Sightings of triangle and V-shaped crafts have spiked past month... could this be related?

10/15 Update: A new theory is that they are Chinese lanterns - Amber commented that she saw 3 get released in the area - however, these don't look remotely like lanterns to me, but anything's possible. As well, we have video! The following video and testimony was submitted to TUS last night by Motts Demerl:

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Was jamming out to The Cure and happened to look up with two friends of mine and captured these strange "UFO" like lights in a triangular pattern flying above the crowd....it's official...aliens like The Cure!

You can also live through these eyewitness accounts:

MUFON report 1:

We were watching The Cure at Austin City Limits Music Fehtial. The lights appeared overhead. There were three lights in the shape of an equilateral triangle. We first noiced this around 9 pm. My wife saw the lights fly in formation making them appear to be a triangle. We both saw it stop and hold a position. Then daphne saw the lights move apart and fly away. I initially thought it was gong to be part of the light show. Then I thought it was drones. We discussed this with four other people around us. We all saw it. It was not part of the show.

And a comment on it:

Last night during The Cure show... around 8:45 I think, there were 3 yellow/orange lights in the formation of a triangle above the stage to the right.

They hovered in perfect formation for approximately 3 minutes. I asked 2 girls standing next to me if they could see them too. They did. One girl said they didn't look like they were part of the show and the other girl said they made her feel uneasy. I felt they made me feel peculiar as well.

At first I figured they were just part of the show or some idiot with some laser pointers. But the way they slowly backed up and then obscured by the clouds... Well, it didn't behave like anything related to the show or consistent with the typical behavior of laser pointer lights at all.

I just did a search and it appears many others saw exactly the same thing.

Anyone here who was at the show see what I'm describing? Perhaps a news helicopter? Looked bizarre whatever it was.

MUFON report 2:

I was attending ACL Festival 2013 at Zilker Park, Austin, Travis County, Texas. A friend & I were laying on the grass looking up at the clouds where the Park's spotlights were bouncing around. At the time it was mostly cloudy with the crescent moon occasionally appearing & now & then a star through a hole in the clouds. It was around 9 p.m. & The Cure was playing-- we were laying facing Southish because downtown was to our North. I saw the lights first-- they were orange, in a clear triangle shape, spaced perfectly apart from one another. They were below the clouds & were probably moving in a vaguely NE direction across the Park. We couldn't see any visible structure between the lights. At one point one of the lights seemed to move ahead-- but I think whatever craft it was tilted or dipped slightly. We watched it until it disappeared into the clouds-- it hovered at one point, directly over the park where the spot lights were going up more densely-- then it proceeded on across & it was hard to tell due to the clouds, but I think it ascended up higher through them. It didn't seem to be in any big hurry, but it didn't stick around either. The whole thing from start to finish was probably 4 minutes from the time I spotted it to the time it disappeared. I took a pic of it with my camera phone-- I'd already put away the Nikon because earlier we had thought it was going to rain as the wind had picked up-- but then it didn't until later. You can't see the orange color in this photo, & it was a lot more impressive & distinct than this makes them look. I was in disbelief-- I live in West Texas where there is little light pollution & star gazing is one of my fave past times. I have seen lights in the past I couldn't really explain-- except they didn't appear to be an airplane, a blimp, a jet, a helicopter, etc-- but nothing I have ever looked up & seen & thought WHOA! I was so stunned it took me a couple of minutes to realize I could get a photo of it, honestly. I've heard about triangle light UFOs & I've seen photos of them, videos, but I never dreamed I'd look up over Austin & see one.

MUFON report 3:

I was sitting at the ACL Fest during THE CURE about 845 pm and was a bit far back so was videoing with my phone the amazing searchlight display and stage light show. I'd taken several vids. I noticed obove left and behind the stage three lights flickering Ogden yellow orange in the formation of a triangle tumbling slowly north trough the sky. I couldn't believe I was seeing a classic triangle UFO formation so having already taken several vids I had the phone ready after I pulled it out and unlocked it and took a 30 second video there bout at 855 pm. I did take time to zoom in a bit before hitting the red button. I followed it until it faded into the clouds going north. I know my husband saw it before me but he only confirmed my seeing it when I mentioned it then I videoed. After taking the video I discussed what I thought it was with my husband. I then inquired of other concert goers if they saw the lights and got several no's and two yes"'s. I asked permission to have the guys email and he gave it to me. I did not ask for the girls because she was very occupied making out with her boyfriend, (they were so cute).

And finally, here's another great report, kindly submitted to TUS by Cindy:

Last night during the ACL music festival at Zilker Park I happened to look up as I was walking towards the Lady Bird Stage around 845pm. I spotted three orange lights in a triangle formation. I pointed this out to three others in my group. We all watched and could not identify what we were looking at. There were lots of skylights beaming up from the park, the headliner bands were playing and had lots of lights on the stage but this was neither. The lights flew above the park and moved westward. We are positive the lights were not part of the festival. My daughter attempted to shoot video on her phone. I will have to see if we caught it. Did anyone else report seeing something?

Reporting this because my husband and I saw something 10+ years ago (also in Austin) and to this day have no explanation.

Did you see this ominous sight? Report your sighting!