Research dossier v0.3 / Candidate layer

Civil Candidates and NUFORC Cleanup

Civil reports are useful, but only after aggressive cleanup. The goal is not to inflate the catalog; it is to learn what survives rejection.

Why cleanup changed the project

The early NUFORC Fireball search produced too many false positives: long durations, holiday lantern clusters, car parallax, falling trails, smoke, debris and ambiguous social media.

After manual v0.6 review only a small candidate layer remained active, and even those rows are not used for route or migration claims.

IDPlaceDateAppearanceMotionManual v0.6 reason
NF-88216Ridgway, Illinois5 Apr 2012Incredibly bright orangeLow/slow, erratic altitude changes, one 90-degree direction changeStrong motion profile, but self-report only.
NF-94311Payson, Utah10 Nov 2012Orange center, yellow layer, red perimeterHover, complete stop, speed/direction change, repeated passesExcellent phenomenology; no public media.
NF-99797Athens, Texas5 Jul 2013Orange glowing orbsEast-west overhead, repeated passes, no soundQualified witness, but July 5 lantern risk and video not evaluated.
NF-180489Surrey, British Columbia7 Aug 2023Orange fire/plasma orbLow over road/trees, east then north, smooth, became black/disappearedUser-supplied frames/video; needs original-file analysis and flare/bokeh control.
NF-183117Anthony Lakes, Oregon1 Aug 2024Amber/orange-red liquid fireHovered near water, moved slowly, receded/disappearedDetailed multi-witness report; emotionally intense and no decisive instrumentation.