The time was about quarter after 5 p.m. on the Nov. 9, 1965. I was upstairs in my room listening to my ham radio when my mother shouted up to me asking, “What was I doing.” I was a 13-year-old ham radio operator, so naturally if the house lights flickered it was usually blamed on me and my army surplus radio equipment. This time is wasn’t me, the lights in the house were browning out and it scared the heck out of my mother who was home alone with three kids.

She turned on the television to check the news and suddenly it was obvious something bad had happened. Of the 12 cable channels that we had, all of the New York City and greater Northeast channels were dark. Of course, this was the peak of the Cold War, so my mother feared the worst. “Perhaps the Soviets had launched a nuclear strike,” she said. After all, the October 1963 Cuban missile Crisis was still a recent memory.

One local channel turned out to still be operating, and a newscaster was reporting that there had been a wide spread electrical power failure in the Northeast. We still had electricity because a local generating facility had disconnected from the grid when it all started to fall apart.

In the days that followed, the scope of the disruption was reported and vast. New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and parts of Ontario, Canada, were largely in the dark. Over 30 million people were affected.

In the end, a technical task force blamed the whole thing on an over-current relay that had been set too low for normal operation.

But there’s another side of the story that usually gets hushed up: UFOs. There were reports all over the Northeast and right here in the Syracuse area that seemed to suggest that a formation of UFOs were seen over high tension wires and loitering around electrical sub-stations.

Here are some of those reports highlights:

Nov. 9, 1965: At 5 p.m. a Middletown, New York, resident reported seeing a ball of bright, green light in the sky.

Nov. 9, 1965: At 5 p.m. a Jersey City, New Jersey, resident reported seeing a bright object moving from north to south over Manhattan. Then over lower Manhattan, the object shot straight up at extreme velocity.

Nov. 9, 1965: At 5 p.m. a resident of Newton, Massachusetts, reported a bright fire ball traveling east to west.

Nov. 9, 1965: At 5 p.m. an Orchestra Conductor on a flight between Syracuse and Rochester observed a bright light descend toward Central New York.

Nov. 9, 1965: At 5 p.m. a Camillus, New York, house wife reported a huge, dome-shaped object near a local sub station about five minutes before the blackout.

Nov. 9, 1965: At 5 p.m. Cicero, New York, a local pilot in a small plane reported seeing a huge, bright light hover near the high tension wires crossing the Mohawk River.

Nov. 9, 1965: At 5 p.m. personnel from the Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Power Plant in Ontario, Canada, reported four strange lights over the power plant.

Nov. 9, 1965: At 5 p.m. residents near the Niagara Falls power station reported seeing a huge, glowing object hovering over the power station.

Coincidence? You decide.

The Central New York region has been robust in terms of UFO sighting reports during the past 15 years. Those not familiar with the region should know that Central New York is known for being part of the Eastern Finger Lakes region as a popular tourist spot year-round.

The region is comprised of nine New York counties, which had 478 UFO sightings during the sample period between 2001 and 2015. This amounts to a 9.48 percent of the New York’s overall 5,041 sightings.

The largest sighting totals were reported in Onondaga, Broome and Oswego counties. Oswego also has the added edge of being on Lake Ontario and benefiting from the UFO Lake Ontario effect. All the rest of the Central New York counties have populations of approximately similar size.

Let’s look at some recent UFO Sighting in New York Skies:

Aug. 2, 2016: At 10:35 p.m., a resident of Centereach observed two objects over the town, both of which were lit up with blue lights.

Aug. 3, 2016: At 11 p.m., a resident of Cold Spring reported seeing two objects hovering over the Hudson River.

Aug. 6, 2016: At 9:30 p.m., a resident of Windham saw 15 orange balls flying in formation.

Aug. 6, 2016: At 11 p.m., a resident of Saugerties reported seeing a circular object that appeared out of nowhere in the eastern sky and traveled south before winking out.

Aug. 7, 2016: At 7:45 p.m., a resident of Yonkers observed a bright orange circle in the sky in broad daylight.

The Central New York region has been robust in terms of UFO sighting reports during the past 15 years. Those not familiar with the region should know that Central New York is known for being part of the Eastern Finger Lakes region as a popular tourist spot year-round.

The region is comprised of nine New York counties, which had 478 UFO sightings during the sample period between 2001 and 2015. This amounts to a 9.48 percent of the New York’s overall 5,041 sightings.

The largest sighting totals were reported in Onondaga, Broome and Oswego counties. Oswego also has the added edge of being on Lake Ontario and benefiting from the UFO Lake Ontario effect. All the rest of the Central New York counties have populations of approximately similar size.

Let’s look at some recent UFO Sighting in New York Skies:

Aug. 2, 2016: At 10:35 p.m., a resident of Centereach observed two objects over the town, both of which were lit up with blue lights.

Aug. 3, 2016: At 11 p.m., a resident of Cold Spring reported seeing two objects hovering over the Hudson River.

Aug. 6, 2016: At 9:30 p.m., a resident of Windham saw 15 orange balls flying in formation.

Aug. 6, 2016: At 11 p.m., a resident of Saugerties reported seeing a circular object that appeared out of nowhere in the eastern sky and traveled south before winking out.

Aug. 7, 2016: At 7:45 p.m., a resident of Yonkers observed a bright orange circle in the sky in broad daylight.

The folks of Central New York’s Onondaga County see their fair share of UFO and UAP phenomena. During the past year, my national UFO/UAP magnitude study has revealed some eye-opening statistics. From 2001 through 2015, Onondaga County reported 3.13 percent of the UFO/UAP sightings for New York.

While most New York counties have sighting rankings of under 1 percent, Onondaga County sits comfortably in the top 20 counties for UFO/UAP sightings and actually ranks No. 9 in the state.

I’ve had regional Native Americans write me over the past three years and tell me that strange, unidentified lights in the sky have been the topic of folk lore for many generations of their people.

Over the past 15 years, Onondaga residents have reported 161 UFO/UAP sightings in all shapes and sizes. Chief among these reports are sightings of spherical and circular objects. The region is also well known for its sightings of triangle-shaped objects. I had the unique experience of sighting a triangle UFO at about 3:30 a.m. on a summer’s night in 2011. The object was traveling at leisurely speed and silently flying over Onondaga Park, headed northwest.

The folks of Central New York’s Onondaga County see their fair share of UFO and UAP phenomena. During the past year, my national UFO/UAP magnitude study has revealed some eye-opening statistics. From 2001 through 2015, Onondaga County reported 3.13 percent of the UFO/UAP sightings for New York.

While most New York counties have sighting rankings of under 1 percent, Onondaga County sits comfortably in the top 20 counties for UFO/UAP sightings and actually ranks No. 9 in the state.

I’ve had regional Native Americans write me over the past three years and tell me that strange, unidentified lights in the sky have been the topic of folk lore for many generations of their people.

Over the past 15 years, Onondaga residents have reported 161 UFO/UAP sightings in all shapes and sizes. Chief among these reports are sightings of spherical and circular objects. The region is also well known for its sightings of triangle-shaped objects. I had the unique experience of sighting a triangle UFO at about 3:30 a.m. on a summer’s night in 2011. The object was traveling at leisurely speed and silently flying over Onondaga Park, headed northwest.

The folks of Central New York’s Onondaga County see their fair share of UFO and UAP phenomena. During the past year, my national UFO/UAP magnitude study has revealed some eye-opening statistics. From 2001 through 2015, Onondaga County reported 3.13 percent of the UFO/UAP sightings for New York.

While most New York counties have sighting rankings of under 1 percent, Onondaga County sits comfortably in the top 20 counties for UFO/UAP sightings and actually ranks No. 9 in the state.

I’ve had regional Native Americans write me over the past three years and tell me that strange, unidentified lights in the sky have been the topic of folk lore for many generations of their people.

Over the past 15 years, Onondaga residents have reported 161 UFO/UAP sightings in all shapes and sizes. Chief among these reports are sightings of spherical and circular objects. The region is also well known for its sightings of triangle-shaped objects. I had the unique experience of sighting a triangle UFO at about 3:30 a.m. on a summer’s night in 2011. The object was traveling at leisurely speed and silently flying over Onondaga Park, headed northwest.

When most people talk about the Western Finger Lakes of New York, you’re likely to hear verbose discussions of the beautiful scenery or perhaps the world class wine trails. What you rarely hear about are the UFO or UAP sightings.

There are 11 New York counties that make up the region known as the Western Finger Lakes. UFOs and UAPs are a huge deal. Over the past 15 years, the region has reported about 10 percent of New York state’s 5,041 UFO/UAP sightings.

While most of the counties reported an average of one or two sightings a year, over the course of the 15-year sample period, Monroe County took the prize for having 236 UFO/UAP sightings. That’s an average of 15.7 per year for the study period — which is huge.

When most people talk about the Western Finger Lakes of New York, you’re likely to hear verbose discussions of the beautiful scenery or perhaps the world class wine trails. What you rarely hear about are the UFO or UAP sightings.

There are 11 New York counties that make up the region known as the Western Finger Lakes. UFOs and UAPs are a huge deal. Over the past 15 years, the region has reported about 10 percent of New York state’s 5,041 UFO/UAP sightings.

While most of the counties reported an average of one or two sightings a year, over the course of the 15-year sample period, Monroe County took the prize for having 236 UFO/UAP sightings. That’s an average of 15.7 per year for the study period — which is huge.