Sure, an inexplicable small-town mystery is fun.
But for John Grossnickle, sheriff of Sweetwater County, Wyoming, this one’s getting a little stale. For over a year, Sweetwater officials have been trying to get to the bottom of a series of unexplained appearances by unidentified flying objects.
Alarmingly, the UFOs seem to have a peculiar interest in a local power facility, the Jim Bridger Steam Plant, which houses four coal-fired generators.
“We’ve worked with everybody,” the sheriff’s spokesperson, Jason Mower told the Cowboy State Daily. “We’ve done everything we can to figure out what they are, and nobody wants to give us any answers.”
Sheriff Grossnickle, who began fielding calls about the sightings 13 months ago, says he’s now observed them with his own eyes. The objects are said to be “lighted” and “drone-like,” and congregate together in “coordinated formations,” CSD reports. They’re typically reported between 2am or 3am.
Shooting them down isn’t an option, as they fly thousands of feet above ground. A state investigation doesn’t seem to be on the table either, as Wyoming National Guard adjutant general Greg Porter said he “doesn’t think he could discuss [them] in open testimony,” per CSD.
“It’s like the new normal,” Mower explained. “It’s like this phenomenon that continues to happen, but it’s not causing any, you know, issues that we have to deal with — other than the presence of them.”
Officials in Sweetwater aren’t alone. Seven sheriffs of nearby counties canvassed by CSD said they’d either viewed similar mystery objects or received reports about them from locals. Back in January, three of those sheriffs had documented sightings above energy infrastructure such as oil fields and power plants, CSD reported at the time.
The strange Wyoming sightings come nearly a year after similar drone hysteria in New Jersey was seemingly put to rest. Despite a huge mystery back in late 2024, president Donald Trump claimed tho drones were authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration for research.
Whether the same can be said for the Wyoming UFO mystery? That’s anyone’s guess.
More on UFOs: Congressman Calmly Explains There Are “Entities” Coming From “Five or Six Deepwater Areas”