Two FBI Agents Followed a Trail to the Water’s Edge
They returned to the spot where they had seen something in the sky. This time, they searched the ground for signs of it.
They returned to the spot where they had seen something in the sky. This time, they searched the ground for signs of it.
Two FBI agents returned to the area where they had seen an unidentified phenomenon. They searched the site and found nothing unusual, but the report does not say what they saw earlier.
This is an FBI FD-1057 electronic communication documenting a December 2024 site survey conducted by FBI Special Agents at a location in the northeastern United States where agents had previously observed Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP) activity in November 2024. Agents walked the perimeter of the location along a marked two-mile loop trail, departed the trail to the West and North, and descended to the water's edge to photograph and assess the areas where the earlier UAP activity was seen. The agents found nothing unusual on the ground or at treetop level at the survey time and assessed that moderate tree cover would make flying a drone or other craft at night impractical without risk of crashing into limbs. The document encloses photos taken on FBI-issued phones.
Two FBI Special Agents observed Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP) activity in the area; the December 2024 site survey was conducted to photograph and survey the locations where this activity was seen.
FBI Special Agents conducted a daytime site survey, walking the perimeter along a marked two-mile loop trail clockwise beginning approximately 10:30am, departing the trail to the West and North, and descending to the water's edge around 11:00am facing South. In the vicinity of the prior UAP observations, agents found nothing unusual on the ground or at treetop level. They noted an area that appeared to be a former fire pit but with no evidence of recent burns, the ground being blanketed with leaves.
"In the vicinity where Agents viewed UAP activity on 11/[redacted]/2024, there did not appear to be anything unusual present on the ground or at treetop level."
Why it matters: Documents that the follow-up site survey found no physical trace at the location of the earlier UAP sighting.
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"Tree cover throughout the area around [redacted] was moderate and Agents assessed that it would be unrealistic for someone to fly a drone or other craft at night without the risk of crashing into tree limbs."
Why it matters: An explicit agent assessment that a conventional drone explanation is implausible given the terrain.
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[REDACTED] Special Agent
FBI Special Agent who surveilled the area and observed UAP activity · FBI · Page 1
Northeastern United States (specific location redacted)
Page 1
Document title, case ID, approving/drafting officials, and the survey location are blanked out.
Likely reason: Identities of agents and the specific location/case identifiers
Names of the Special Agents, the specific location/property names, and the November sighting date are redacted throughout the narrative.
Likely reason: Personal/agent identities and specific location names
OCR quality on page 1 is poor (header garbled, e.g. 'PBI', '0flfllCIAL Rl!COIID'); most substantive names, dates, and locations are redacted. The document is one of a clustered FBI series (D004-D008 plus video PR001-PR003) all originating from the same general northeastern US area. The synopsis date field reads 12/1/2024 while the narrative references the survey as occurring in December 2024; exact survey day is partly redacted.
The report does not explain what they saw. It describes it as an unidentified phenomenon.
No. They found nothing unusual on the ground or in the treetops.
The report mentions a property but does not identify it.
Two FBI agents followed a trail to the water’s edge, where they had previously seen an unidentified phenomenon. In December 2024, they returned to photograph and inspect the spots where they had observed it.
Their search led them to a vantage point with a clear view of a property across the water. But around the spot where the phenomenon had appeared, they found nothing unusual. The report describes their inspection but does not say what the agents saw the first time. That gap remains at the heart of the story: they returned to look for something they had seen in the sky, but found no trace of it on the ground.
The agents followed a marked trail around the area, leaving it at several points to head west and north. On the northwest side, they stepped off the trail and made their way to the water’s edge.
From there, they looked south toward a property the report does not identify. They said nothing obstructed their view. This vantage point allowed them to inspect the area across the water where they had previously seen the phenomenon.
The agents also inspected another area on the north side. At neither of the two places where they had previously observed the phenomenon did they find anything unusual on the ground or in the treetops.
The trees in the area were moderately dense. Based on their inspection, the agents judged that flying a drone or other aircraft there at night would be dangerous because it could hit branches. That was an assessment of the terrain, not a description of a drone seen at the site.
The report does not explain what the agents saw earlier or what caused the phenomenon. It also does not identify the property across the water or offer a conventional explanation for what appeared in the sky.
They made their way down to the water, looked across it, and searched for signs of it. The place was still before them, but whatever had brought them back left no trace.