On the night of April 26, 2013, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection aircraft recorded something strange off the coast of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.
Through its infrared camera, the crew watched as an unidentified object-then two-glided across the airport, darted near land, and appeared to vanish into the ocean.
For over a decade, the footage remained one of the most compelling pieces of public UAP evidence: no visible propulsion, steady low-level flight, a seeming ability to split-or replicate-and finally, a “transmedium” disappearance into water.
Now, in 2025, the Department of Defense’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) says it has solved the mystery. Their conclusion? Sky lanterns.
But here’s the problem: even they don’t sound convinced.
🛩️ Two Objects, One Infrared Camera, and Zero Certainty
The report begins with confidence: AARO’s analysts say the objects showed no signs of propulsion, exotic maneuvering, or speed beyond 8 mph.
Their trajectory tracked with local wind patterns. The infrared signature flickered and faded-consistent, they say, with flimsy lanterns burning out over time.
“AARO assesses with moderate confidence that the objects were a pair of sky lanterns.”
- AARO Puerto Rico Case Resolution, 2025
But the confidence fades quickly. The video shows the object(s) visibly separating and re-merging multiple times.
The footage appears to show entry into the Atlantic Ocean. AARO says this was just a trick of thermal contrast-the lanterns didn’t vanish into water, they just became too cool to detect.
The explanation is clean. Too clean.
🎭 Sky Lanterns-or a Controlled Narrative?
AARO claims to have consulted with local hospitality vendors, who confirmed that hotels in the area sometimes release lanterns.
Convenient-but unprovable.
There’s no record of such an event on the night in question.
And the objects weren’t rising-they were tracking low and flat, with uniform velocity, for minutes.
“The objects drifted at wind speed… consistent with lanterns.”
- AARO
But the same report admits the objects seemed to pass behind a utility pole-which would require radically different positioning, distance, and speed. AARO says their pixel analysis ruled this out.
That’s a lot of trust placed in pixels over instinct.
🔬 A Splitting Object That Was Always Two?
Another contradiction: the infrared footage appears to show a single object splitting in two before flying in tandem. AARO says no-it was always two objects, just viewed from a bad angle.
“The objects visibly separate multiple times within the first minute… likely two the entire time.”
- AARO
Yet the video shows clear separation moments followed by unification, over and over.
If they were truly two separate lanterns, why would they converge perfectly at multiple intervals, then diverge again, with exact spacing?
Is that how paper lanterns behave in strong, turbulent wind?
🌫️ Vanishing Over Water
Perhaps the most disturbing claim is the object’s final act: its apparent descent into the ocean. The thermal signature flickers, disappears, and never re-emerges.
AARO blames “thermal crossover,” a sensor phenomenon where the object and background match in temperature.
But even the report acknowledges:
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Sensor distance tripled
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Cloud cover interfered
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Data quality was poor
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The object seemed to vanish into the sea
For a supposedly solved case, the conclusion relies heavily on simulation and circumstantial inference.
🕳️ What If It Wasn’t a Lantern?
Here’s what’s more honest: we don’t know what it was. We know it didn’t maneuver like a jet. It didn’t fall like a balloon. It didn’t flap like a bird. And it didn’t flicker like a flame until the very end.
In a world with more transparency, that would be an open question, not a closed case.
Sometimes, a mystery isn’t solved. It’s just filed away-under the label “explained” to make it go away.
