Mysterious color-changing object over a Joshua Tree pool
On September 14, 2026, two women spotted a black, balloon-shaped object above the pool of a rental property in Joshua Tree, California. The incident was reported to NUFORC, and the blog UFO Sightings Daily wrote about it.
According to the report, on the morning of September 14, while swimming, two women noticed a dark, balloon-shaped object low in the sky above Joshua Tree, at the pool of a rented property (Airbnb). According to the witness, the object at first hovered motionless, then slowly began drifting sideways. Meanwhile its color changed several times: the initial black shade turned green, red, orange, then silvery and white. At the end of the sighting the object suddenly began to climb rapidly, and according to the witness, high up it already looked like a star. The entire phenomenon lasted about twenty minutes; NUFORC logged the report under ID #200902.
What do we know, and what don't we?
What can be stated with certainty is that a report with this content was submitted to NUFORC, and that the UFO Sightings Daily blog published an article about it, written by Scott C. Waring. In the article, Waring calls the object a semi-transparent, rotating “orb” that allegedly showed particular interest in the two women, and he suggests that aliens like desert landscapes. However, these claims come not from the witness's account but from Waring's own interpretation, with no factual support. The source also does not make clear what quality of footage was made of the incident, or whether any footage was recorded by anyone other than the witness at all. No independent witness, official investigation or expert analysis is connected to the case so far, and there is also no information on how NUFORC itself classified the report.
The sober take
The described phenomenon – the changes in color and light, the initial hovering, then slow sideways movement, and finally the rapid climb and star-like disappearance – may be consistent with several mundane explanations. A hot-air balloon or a balloon in the morning sunlight can indeed look dark at times and bright at others, and air movement can easily cause such slow drifting followed by a rapid rise. The lights of a drone or other aircraft, and sunlight glinting off it, could also explain the repeated color changes. Nor can it be ruled out that the witness was actually observing a bright planet or star whose apparent "motion" was caused by atmospheric refraction or the observer's own movement. The source did not examine these possibilities, and no instrumental measurement or expert analysis was carried out, so at present there is no way to decide which explanation comes closest to reality.
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