DISCLOSURE HAS BEGUN
By Hans Wilder
Watertown, NY
For decades, Americans who claimed to witness unidentified flying objects were often laughed off, dismissed, or quietly told they “didn’t see what they saw.”
Now, after years of Pentagon acknowledgments, congressional hearings, Navy pilot testimony, leaked military footage, and growing public pressure, the federal government has begun releasing additional UFO — or UAP, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena — related files to the public.
And suddenly, stories that once sounded impossible no longer sound quite so crazy.
The latest wave of disclosures, beginning through federal defense and military channels associated with what many Americans still casually call the Department of War, has reignited conversations across the country about unexplained aerial phenomena near military installations, nuclear sites, and strategic infrastructure.
That includes here in Northern New York.
Long before UFOs became a mainstream news topic discussed openly on cable television, there were people around the Watertown area quietly talking about strange sightings near Fort Drum.
One of those incidents involved this writer and two other individuals during a summer night decades ago overlooking the region from Dry Hill.
The night was unusually clear. Stars filled the sky. Visibility was excellent.
And then something appeared over the Fort Drum area that none of us could explain.
The object appeared triangular in shape and remained suspended over the area for an extended period of time. What made the incident especially strange was the way it moved.
At times, the object seemed to dart across portions of the sky with sudden speed while blinking red lights trailing behind it struggled to catch up. The red lights would disappear completely for several seconds before reappearing on the opposite side of the object.
From our vantage point on Dry Hill, it appeared as though helicopters — or some type of pursuing aircraft — were maneuvering around or behind the triangular craft as it moved over the Fort Drum area.
The following day, the incident became even more unsettling.
A conversation with a military police officer on duty at the time — who also served as Jefferson County undersheriff during that era — reportedly confirmed that helicopters had indeed been deployed in response to an unidentified object floating over the base that night.
No official explanation was ever provided to us.
And for years, stories like these stayed buried in conversations between friends, veterans, police officers, hunters, campers, and military personnel who often preferred not to discuss the subject publicly.
That culture of silence may now be changing.
In recent years, the U.S. military itself has openly acknowledged encounters involving objects demonstrating unusual flight characteristics that remain unexplained. Congressional committees have demanded transparency. Former intelligence officials have testified publicly. Military pilots have described craft operating in ways beyond known conventional aviation capabilities.
Meanwhile, public interest has exploded.
What once belonged almost exclusively to late-night radio programs like Art Bell’s legendary Coast to Coast AM has now entered mainstream political and military discussion.
And regardless of where someone stands on the issue — extraterrestrials, secret military technology, adversarial drones, atmospheric anomalies, or something else entirely — one thing has become increasingly clear:
The conversation is no longer fringe.
For communities surrounding military infrastructure like Fort Drum, the subject carries particular intrigue. Military bases have long been associated with UFO reports dating back generations, both in the United States and internationally.
Was the triangular object seen over Fort Drum decades ago some classified military technology?
Was it an optical illusion amplified by the night sky?
Or was it something genuinely unexplained?
Nobody involved can answer that definitively.
But today, unlike years ago, asking the question no longer immediately gets you laughed out of the room.
And perhaps that is the biggest shift of all.
The files are being opened.
The stigma is fading.
And people across America — including right here in Watertown — are beginning to revisit strange moments they once convinced themselves to forget.
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