Red Rocks employees report seeing UFO in night sky above famed Colorado concert venue

A dozen employees at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre claim they saw a strange object light up the Colorado sky earlier this month, according to the National UFO Reporting Center.

The observers, who said they work for the Morrison, Colorado venue, described a dark metallic disk that appeared north of the amphitheater at around 1 a.m. on June 5, the center reported.

The object appeared to be several hundred feet long and hovered in place for 30 seconds before heading east at about 5-10 mph and vanishing, according to a report the center posted.

"One of our coworkers suddenly said to us, 'Hey, what is that over there? It looks like a spaceship.' We all turned to look in the direction he was pointing and sure enough, there was a UFO hovering," an observer in the report said. "We all kept asking each other, 'Are you seeing this too?'"

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Craft appeared to have 'three levels of windows'

The amphitheater employee said the "large disc-shaped craft" appeared to have "three levels of windows," according to the report.

The worker said it seemed as large as a three story office building. While it remained completely silent throughout its appearance, the employee claimed that the object tipped at an angle and slowly headed east right when the group dedicated their full attention to it.

View of Red Rocks Amphitheater.
View of Red Rocks Amphitheater.

"Then it started fading away until it was invisible. It didn't shoot off into the distance. It simply dissolved into the ether. We all watched it vanish," the worker said in the report. "This was not a plane. It wasn't a satellite, a drone, or anything like that. There was no mistaking what this was."

What states have the most UFO sightings?

There have been 3320 UFO sightings reported in Colorado, according to the center. The Centennial State ranks as the 12th U.S. state with the most UFO reports and in 2023 was the 21st most populated.

Colorado sits behind Oregon with 3,587 sightings reported.

These are the top 10 states in the U.S. with the most reports as of June 28, 2024, shared by the center (along with their 2023 state population rank).

  • California - 16,394 (1st)

  • Florida - 8,380 (3rd)

  • Washington - 7,281 (13th)

  • Texas - 6,262 (2nd)

  • New York - 5,954 (4th)

  • Pennsylvania - 5,078 (5th)

  • Arizona - 5,056 (14th)

  • Ohio - 4,494 (7th)

  • Illinois - 4,321 (6th)

  • North Carolina - 3,715 (9th)

What are the most common types of UFOs reported?

The most common description is simply a non-identifiable light in the sky, according to Peter Davenport, the non-profit's director since 1994.

"We don't get too excited about reports of that nature, because there are many lights in the sky," Davenport told USA TODAY in October. "Stars and planets, of course, satellites."

As a commercial pilot himself, Davenport said he's most intrigued by reports submitted by airline pilots, which he calls "pretty good sources of accurate information when they see something they can't identify or explain."

Descriptions of these objects from the center's data ranges from common shapes including circles, ovals, triangles and diamonds to images such as a light, orb, flash, disk or fireball.

A NASA team published a report on Sept. 14 showing that the most common form of UAPs reported are orbs or spheres.

NASA UFO team finds no evidence of extraterrestrials

A 36-page report from NASA’s Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Independent Study Team released in September found no evidence that UFOs or UAPs are of extraterrestrial origin.

The team said some UAPs simply can't yet be explained but that NASA is increasing their role in scientific investigation of these sightings, even naming a new director of UAP research, whose identity has been withheld.

At a congressional hearing last July, three former military members spoke about their knowledge of reported UFO encounters and discussed the security threats the phenomena could pose.

One of them was Rt. Commander David Fravor, who was among Navy pilots who during a 2004 flight, spotted the now-famous Tic Tac-shaped object that was captured on video off the Southern California coast. When testifying he described the oval object as "perfectly white, smooth, no windows," and said it displayed flight capabilities that were unheard of.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Red Rocks workers spot 'spaceship' looking UFO hovering in Colorado