Cheyenne Mountain "Potato" Object
Five U.S. Army personnel, described by ASA as intelligence officers with the 10th Special Forces Group, were walking into a building at or near Fort Carson. They say they saw a large, stationary, off-white object with an irregular panelled surface hovering over a saddle of Cheyenne Mountain, about 6 miles west, for between 30 seconds and a few minutes. It then vanished while they looked away, or "cloaked". Each man later drew it independently. One witness, former Army intelligence officer Caison Best, reported the sighting to AARO and later to Ryan Graves's Americans for Safe Aerospace (ASA). The FBI interviewed him in June/July 2024 for a forensic sketch, and in March 2025 the FBI interviewed a witness (identity redacted) by Microsoft Teams. On 12 June 2026 the Department of War's PURSUE Release 03 published four files: - two FBI interview records; - an FBI digital rendering; - an intelligence-community analysis prepared for AARO. It assessed, with low confidence, that the object was "possibly backscattering of sunlight" off snow onto low cloud, and found "no anomalous data". The primary trail is good for a ground sighting: government interview records and an official analysis exist. But the witness accounts disagree on time of day and on cloud cover, and the analysis rests on weather reports that contradict the witnesses.
Evidence, in date order (2)
- 15 Feb 2022Intelligence-community analysis for AAROofficialofficial record that five U.S. Army service members observed an airborne object over Cheyenne Mountain on 15 Feb 2022 ICA-UAP-D001
- Mar 2025Second Army witness (name redacted), FBI interviewwitnessindependent FD-302 account of the stationary panelled object over the saddle, with the group's consistent drawings FBI-UAP-D001
How plausible · High
Released FBI interviews and an official analysis record a sighting by five Army intelligence personnel; the sunlight explanation is low-confidence and the witnesses reject it.
- ●●Access On base.
- ●●No gain sought Nothing sold.
- ●●Character record Army intelligence staff.
- ●●Independent convergence Five witnesses.
- ●●Checkable details check out FBI FD-302s; IC analysis.
- ●●Fits the documented skeleton Part of AARO/PURSUE.
Plausibility weighs how well an account fits where secrecy hides the documents by design, so missing records never count against it. Strength measures what is documented. Assessed 2026-10-23.
On the record
- FD-302, March 2025 (D001), p.1–2: The sighting was "on a workday in early February 2022, at approximately 1:00 or 2:00PM" near Fort Carson. He "and four other persons from his unit" saw an object "hovering just over Cheyanne mountain, in a low point or 'saddle'". It was "matte white, or off-white … non-metallic … oval shaped … 'bean-shaped'", "completely motionless", with no sound. It was seen for about 3–5 minutes and was "covered in intersecting lines or ridges which formed an abstract polygon pattern". It was about "the size of a pool cue at arms-length". No one had a phone. When they looked back after deciding to fetch one, "the object had vanished". Each of them "independently drew what they remembered", and the drawings were "consistent". He believed a colleague (redacted) "made an official report to the army". He "was contacted by AARO in early 2024 … provided a response, but … was never interviewed by AARO or anyone else."
- FD-1057, July 2024 (D002), p.2: Time 11:25 am. The witness was "a former U.S. Army intelligence officer" with four others from his unit. There was a "blue bird" sky with no clouds, at about 50°F. The object was "'potato' shaped with distinct edges … creamy/whitish opalescent … somewhat translucent with a slight shimmer". It was made up of "articulating fish scales or panels that were non-symmetrical, non-overlapping, and irregular shaped … each panel on the object shifted in slow waves". "After approximately two minutes, the object vanished … the object 'cloaked' in the space of time it took to turn a head and there was no shadow."
- IC analysis (ICA-UAP-D001), pp.3–4: The object was "observed by five U.S. Army service members at Fort Carson, Colorado at 0935 MNT on 15 February 2022, was possibly backscattering of sunlight". The analysis has "low confidence … based on uncertainty in the field of view of each witness, amount of snow cover, and exact elevation and amount of cloud cover. No anomalous data or characteristics were recorded or assessed, and the event did not represent an unknown adversarial capability." Witness summary: about 6 miles west, for 30–180 s, "roughly the size of a large jet … angular, non-symmetrical potato made of uneven panels … stationary about 300-500 feet above Cheyanne Mountain while slowly changing shape." "Although witnesses reported clear, blue skies, multiple weather reports, including those from AFWA and Weather Underground, indicated … partly to mostly cloudy" skies. Snow depth on the mountain was about 6–12 in. "No aircraft or balloons were noted active in or around Cheyenne Mountain during the time."Colorado police
- Discrepancies in the official record itself: the time is given as 09:35 MNT (ICA), 11:25 (FD-1057), and 13:00–14:00 (FD-302). The date is 15 Feb (ICA) or "early February" (FD-302). The duration ranges from 30 s to 5 min. The FD-302 and FD-1057 may record two different members of the group; they are not shown to be the same person.
Claims
Where
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Sources
- FBI-UAP-D001, FD-302 (war.gov PURSUE Release 03, 12 Jun 2026), via mirror
- FBI-UAP-D002, FD-1057 forensic sketch interview (war.gov PURSUE Release 03), via mirror
- FBI-UAP-D003, digital rendering (war.gov PURSUE Release 03), via mirror
- ICA-UAP-D001, "An Airborne Object Over Cheyenne Mountain in February 2022 was Possible Backscattering of Sunlight" (war.gov PURSUE Release 03), via mirror
- Americans for Safe Aerospace, Report MIL-2022-104
- Ryan Graves, "What happened when a UAP was reported near Cheyenne Mountain?", ASA, 1 Oct 2025