A swarm of orbs over the St. Anthony Sand Dunes: what does the Idaho NUFORC report contain?
On the evening of October 3, an Idaho witness watched white orbs that occasionally turned red near the St. Anthony Sand Dunes for two hours. NUFORC published the report on October 12. There is no photo, video or other eyewitness.
The report was picked up on October 15 by the website of KEZJ, a local American radio station. The original account can be read in the public database of NUFORC (National UFO Reporting Center) under number 201418. The center, founded in 1974 and based in Davenport, Washington, maintains one of the world's largest UFO report databases. It publishes the submitted accounts but does not investigate them.
What did the witness write?
According to the report, the sighting began on October 3 at around 10 p.m. and lasted about two hours. The witness saw the phenomenon toward the northwest, at an elevation of about 45 degrees, near the Juniper Mountains next to the St. Anthony Sand Dunes.
According to the description, a swarm of white orbs moved unpredictably, constantly changing direction. About ten orbs were visible at a time. The lights occasionally brightened, turned bright red or orange, then faded, and were surrounded by a haze. The witness did not see blinking lights, such as drones usually have. The orbs sometimes seemed distant, while at other times they appeared to be close to the mountains.
The witness submitted the report on October 5, and NUFORC published it on October 12. No photo or video is attached.
What do we know, and what don't we?
What we know: a single witness submitted a detailed description. What we don't know: whether anyone else saw the phenomenon, how far away the lights were, and whether they actually moved or only appeared to. Appearing in NUFORC means that the report was received, not that anyone verified it.
KEZJ also mentions an earlier Idaho case: on September 4 in Caribou County, a former military officer reported three triangular objects.
The sober take
The description is consistent with several everyday phenomena. The two-hour duration, the constant direction and the red-orange flickering fit the atmospheric twinkling of bright stars (scintillation). In addition, points of light stared at in the dark without a reference point appear to start "wandering" (the autokinetic effect), which can create the impression of erratic movement. A group of drones flying without blinking lights is also a possibility. Without a photo or another witness, none of these possibilities can be settled.