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FBI September 2023 Sighting - Composite Sketch

Official PDF: Open Sky release file copy. Derived page render from the official PDF:

Release 01#war-gov#pursue#release-01#official-source#evidence#pdf#composite-sketch

FBI September 2023 Sighting - Composite Sketch

Evidence media

Official PDF page render: FBI September 2023 Sighting - Composite Sketch

This render shows the one-page PDF: a bright landscape/site-photo background with a large sky area and a released FBI Lab rendered graphic overlay of a horizontal dark oval or cylindrical form with a bright radial glow near the left side. No labels, timestamps, scale bars, or measurement annotations are visible, so the overlay should not be treated as a raw object photograph.

  • Native image object from the PDF: view extracted JPEG. It shows the same site-photo/composite-overlay scene as the PDF page render.

Investigation reading

This is a graph_investigation_draft for a one-page FBI PDF released in WAR.GOV / PURSUE Release 01. It is preserved as an official-primary source record, but it is not a finding, resolution, or independent confirmation of the reported object. The useful reading frame is narrow: this file is a composite visual aid, not a raw sensor packet or a witness interview transcript.

The release description says the file is an actual site photo with an FBI Lab rendered graphic overlay depicting corroborating eyewitness reports from September 2023. Those reports are summarized in the manifest as an apparent ellipsoid bronze metallic object that materialized out of a bright light in the sky, was estimated at 130–195 feet in length, and disappeared instantaneously. The PDF itself contains no readable body text beyond the image page, so those details come from the release record/manifest context rather than text printed on the PDF page.

What the file appears to contain

The verified PDF copy is one page. A full-page render and the embedded JPEG both show the same scene: a bright outdoor landscape with a grassy field, a low tree line, a road or paved path at the lower left, and a large blue sky. In the upper-right sky area, the image includes a dark elongated oval or cylindrical rendered form, placed horizontally, with a bright radial light/glow effect behind or beside its left side.

The visual pass supports the manifest's description of a site photo plus rendered overlay. The background reads as a photographic outdoor scene. The object and glow read as a composited graphic element rather than an unannotated photograph of an object. No labels, arrows, scale bars, witness names, captions, timestamps, agency stamps, page numbers, or measurement annotations were visible in the image. The page should therefore be treated as a released explanatory sketch/composite, not as standalone measurement evidence.

Source custody and provenance

The Open Sky release-file copy is a PDF asset titled FBI September 2023 Sighting - Composite Sketch, agency FBI, tied to Release 01 CSV row 154 and the official URL:

https://www.war.gov/medialink/ufo/release_1/2024-04-30-composite-sketch.pdf

The verified SHA-256 for the Open Sky release-file copy is:

7768268e837325333be0ea00ce5c00f571de3190e0c390f33e098f183cbf19a5

The verified PDF is 109,275 bytes, one page, and contains one embedded JPEG image at roughly 1419 × 944 pixels. Text extraction and the frontier OCR file only produce the page marker (=== Page 1 ===), with no substantive OCR text. A range-readable current copy from the official URL rendered the same visible image during this draft, but its PDF container metadata/size differed from the verified Open Sky copy. Treat that as a version-control lead, not as a visible content difference.

Graph context

The graph has an exact official PDF asset record for this file and a separate WAR.GOV release-record node for CSV row 154. The release-record node carries incident date 9/1/23 and location United States; the asset node itself does not add a more specific location or witness list.

Semantic extraction attached 11 claim records and 13 entity mentions, with 0 sensor-event records and 0 table rows. The extracted claims are mostly restatements of the release description: FBI as agency, the September 2023 time window, the object/visual description, and the stated materialization/disappearance/length estimate. Because the PDF page has no text body, those graph claims should be read as release-manifest claims, not independent statements printed in the image.

The graph neighborhood also links this asset to the same release row and to a related item titled FBI September 2023 Sighting - Serial 5. That may be the next contextual document for the same sighting cluster, but it should be read directly before merging details. A less obvious related document appears in the graph neighborhood as a State Department UAP cable; that relationship needs source-level verification before it is used as analytical context.

Leads to check

  • Read FBI September 2023 Sighting - Serial 5 against this sketch to see whether it supplies witness statements, location details, reporting chain, or explanation for the composite overlay.
  • Reconcile the current Release 01 row numbering and any older manifest-description text that appears to quote a different row number for the same asset.
  • Preserve the distinction between the site photo and the FBI Lab rendered overlay when writing public summaries.
  • If the current official PDF container remains different from the verified Open Sky PDF copy, compare hashes, metadata, and rendered pixels before treating it as a new source version.
  • Look for any source that explains how the 130–195 foot estimate was derived: witness estimate, scene geometry, survey, or later reconstruction.

Lead check notes

  • Partial — Serial 5 context: The linked FBI September 2023 Sighting - Serial 5 release file is a two-page FBI FD-302 interview record. Its OCR/text states that redacted interviewees described a linear metallic/gray object with a super bright east-side light, no wings or exhaust, visibility for five to ten seconds, an approximate altitude of 5,000 feet above ground level, east-to-west motion, and disappearance after the light went out. It also places the observation around LiDAR/drone-test activity and restricted airspace. That makes Serial 5 relevant source context for the sketch, but the Serial 5 page remains redacted and not yet human-reviewed, so its details should not be merged into this page as resolved findings without direct human review of that PDF.
  • Partial — row/provenance cleanup: Current release metadata places the composite-sketch record at row 154. Available graph/release context also preserves older manifest-description text that can point the same composite asset toward row 157, while Serial 5 appears in current row 157 and an additional row 160 record. Until the manifest history is reconciled, the stable identifiers for this page are the official URL and SHA-256, not a single row number alone.
  • Checked — site photo versus overlay: The verified PDF render and embedded image show a photographic outdoor background plus a rendered/composited sky overlay, with no labels or measurement marks. Public summaries should continue to describe the file as a composite visual aid, not a raw object photograph.
  • Partial — official-container version: The Open Sky release-file copy verifies at 109,275 bytes with SHA-256 7768268e837325333be0ea00ce5c00f571de3190e0c390f33e098f183cbf19a5. The current official URL still returns PDF ranged bytes reporting a 112,045-byte container while full-file access returns 403; use the verified Open Sky copy for this page unless a full official-container reconstruction and pixel comparison is intentionally promoted.
  • Needs external source — length estimate: The sketch PDF has no scale bar or measurement notes. Serial 5 provides comparative size language and altitude/motion claims, but it does not explain the manifest's 130–195 foot estimate. That estimate still needs a source such as unredacted witness notes, FBI Lab reconstruction notes, site geometry, or a survey/measurement record.

Deep investigation — graph + web reconnaissance

Source reread

The rechecked source file is a one-page PDF, 109,275 bytes, SHA-256 7768268e837325333be0ea00ce5c00f571de3190e0c390f33e098f183cbf19a5. Its PDF metadata identifies Adobe Photoshop 25.6 / Image Conversion Plug-in creation, one embedded JPEG image at roughly 1419 × 944 pixels, and no substantive text layer. Frontier OCR likewise contains only the page marker, so the source text for object description, date, location, and length comes from the release manifest rather than from printed text on the PDF page.

Visual review of the verified page render and embedded JPEG supports the narrow reading already used above: a photographic outdoor site/landscape background is combined with a rendered or composited upper-right sky overlay showing an elongated dark oval/cylindrical form and a bright radial glow. No labels, captions, timestamps, scale bars, frame numbers, sensor readouts, coordinates, or measurement annotations are visible. The image therefore cannot by itself establish size, distance, speed, altitude, or physical presence.

Graph connections

Read-only graph checks found the exact WAR.GOV PDF asset plus a separate release-record node for the current row. The stable identifiers are the official PDF URL and file hash; row numbering remains messy. One current release record titled FBI September 2023 Sighting - Composite Sketch points to a different PDF URL in the row-record properties, while a related row-record titled FBI September 2023 Sighting - Serial 5 carries the composite-sketch PDF URL. Treat that as manifest/reconciliation drift, not corroboration.

The semantic graph coverage for this asset remains limited to 11 machine-extracted claims and 13 entity mentions, with 0 sensor-event records. Those claims are manifest-derived descriptors: FBI agency, the September 2023/2024/2026 date strings, an ellipsoid/light/object description, and the 130–195-foot measurement phrase. Because the PDF page itself is effectively textless, these graph claims are useful source-index entries, not independent witness statements and not findings.

The graph also links a secondary UFO-USA GitHub markdown conversion to the official asset as a derived copy; the relationship explicitly preserves WAR.GOV as the source of record. A non-obvious State Department cable neighbor appears through the same row/provenance drift and should not be used as analytical context for this sketch unless a source-level relationship is later verified. The strongest source-family lead is still FBI September 2023 Sighting - Serial 5, which contains the redacted FD-302 interview text for the same September 2023 sighting cluster.

External provenance and official-source checks

Direct WAR.GOV fetches for the PDF, release page, and release CSV returned 403 Forbidden during this check, so the verified Open Sky release-file copy remains the practical access copy for readers. The Internet Archive preserves an official-PDF snapshot at 20260514084900; that archived container is 112,045 bytes with SHA-256 b18179d90564ecae48fbca58e945894633ac9c37f49f5781a9406a389b457663, PDF 1.7, copy-disabled/encrypted, and a later 2026 modification date. A render of that archived container showed the same high-level visual content: the site-photo landscape, rendered elongated object, and bright glow, with no added labels or measurement marks.

Archived official CSV snapshots also preserve the catalog description. The newer uap-release001.csv snapshot from 20260515033121 lists the title FBI September 2023 Sighting - Composite Sketch, type PDF, agency FBI, incident date 9/1/23, incident location United States, the same official PDF URL, a thumbnail URL, image alt text reading “Saucer-shaped object with a bright light hovers over a grassy field,” and VIRIN 260508-O-D0360-1053. An older uap-csv.csv snapshot from 20260512032210 carries the same core title, description, agency, date, location, and PDF URL. These archive records strengthen provenance for the release metadata, but they do not add new measurement evidence.

Prosaic checks and follow-up leads

The composite sketch is not a sky-measurement source. Meaningful aircraft, drone, astronomy, weather, launch, or satellite correlation is blocked until the supporting FBI records reveal the exact date, location/facility, route, gate/bridge position, viewing direction, time, elevation, and range context. The related Serial 5 interview record supplies the first prosaic-control lane: a LiDAR/drone-test context, restricted airspace, morning vehicle travel, a gate/bridge setting, good visibility, and a source statement that no vehicle interference was noticed. Those details should guide follow-up, but they remain too redacted for an actual correlation pass.

Priority follow-up is therefore source-custody and scene-geometry work: obtain or identify the original unannotated site photo, FBI Lab reconstruction notes, any witness sketch/geometry basis for the 130–195-foot estimate, facility/drone-test logs, and any less-redacted FD-302 or lab packet explaining how the overlay was made. Until then, the proper public posture is unresolved visual aid: source-backed as a released FBI composite, but not an adjudicated object image.

Audit note

No graph writes were performed for this check. The graph material above is read-only context, and all machine-extracted claims remain machine_extracted_needs_human_review / not_a_finding unless source text or source media independently supports them.

Limits

This page does not identify the depicted object. It does not establish that the rendered overlay is a photograph of the reported object. The available one-page PDF does not provide camera metadata, coordinates, witness names, original unannotated site photo, measurement method, time of day, or a prosaic-control comparison. The file is useful as a provenance-backed visual representation of the release claim, but the underlying sighting still needs human review against the supporting FBI materials.

Sources