Anoka Police "Atom-Shaped" Sphere (FBI UAP File)

Anoka, Minnesota, bills itself as the "Halloween Capital of the World." In the early hours of 19 February 2025, at least three Anoka Police Department employees had just finished a training session. They gathered for an after-action briefing in a Domino's Pizza parking lot near the police station. It was a cold night. Visibility was clear.

About 1:17 a.m. Low on the western horizon hung a sphere of light. "The object was a sphere shape. We saw red, blue, green, and white light emitting from the object. Best I can describe is a 'tie dye' shirt in motion."

Another witness saw six "hula-hoops with lights around each loop," like "an orbital diagram of an atom." They judged it as large as an SUV or a school bus, perhaps 50 miles away. In their words, "the object did not appear to be conventional aircraft."

The group moved to the Anoka Municipal Ramp to get a better view. One officer drove toward Elk River. The object "remained too far west." It hovered, then it "descended like a leaf floating on a breeze." It changed position in three separate bursts.

It "skipped across the sky like a stone on a pond," appearing to travel "30-40 miles in a few seconds." It descended and ascended rapidly. It may have flown a long "racetrack" loop. Finally it moved north and northwest, toward Monticello and possibly near the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant.

They watched for about 90 minutes. One officer held his iPhone up to binoculars and filmed it. The witnesses said they expected more sightings and planned better equipment.

One witness said a similar object had appeared before, on 17 February 2025 at about 11:30 p.m., during routine patrol. "I did not discuss this with anyone until my coworkers witnessed this object with me on Feb. 19." CBS reported that earlier sighting as about a month prior, in daylight. A second daytime video, shot about 5 miles away, is also mentioned. The records list a historical sighting dated 11 September 2022.

The witnesses took their report to Americans for Safe Aerospace, the nonprofit founded by former Navy pilot Ryan Graves, and ASA passed it to the FBI. Graves called the report credible: "It makes both the witnesses highly credible and the case very hard to explain." The FBI records do not identify the object. The matter was closed without further investigative action, and federal records class it as an "unidentified anomalous phenomenon." Police Chief Andy Youngquist confirmed at least one witness was a sworn officer and said there had been no further sightings since February 2025.

Skeptics offered earthbound answers. Experts quoted by Higgypop suggested stellar scintillation, the atmospheric twinkling that makes a bright star flash different colours near the horizon. Other suggestions included drones, atmospheric refraction, weather balloons, military aircraft and bright celestial objects. No published check of the western sky that night has settled it.

In May 2026, three records, including a blurry three-second clip, were released in the National Archives' Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Records Collection, Record Group 615. FOX 9 broke the story on 26 May 2026. Coverage spread from there. The same month, the Pentagon published its separate PURSUE releases. Minnesota reporters reached for the state's classic police case, Deputy Val Johnson's 1979 encounter in Marshall County. The Anoka sphere remains unidentified.