Is it a craft, or is it a doorway to somewhere else? What if some UFOs aren’t objects at all? A UFO with no surface. A daylight sighting that didn’t move like an object. Some researchers say these rare cases challenge what “UFO” even means.
A growing subset of UAP reports describes something far stranger than metallic craft, anomalies that appear to lack a surface, structure, or even physical form.
Illustration representing a reported aerial anomaly lacking visible structure.
On May 29, 2021 a weird ring of lights appears in the sky over Bloomington, Minnesota.
In a February 2023 Richard Dolan Members discussion, researcher Erling Strand described one such encounter. His account raises a quiet but profound question: are some sightings not vehicles, but temporary distortions of the environment itself?
The encounter occurred near Oslo, Norway, in broad daylight. Strand observed a dark, indented square-like form suspended in the sky. It did not reflect light. It did not behave like an aircraft. And it did not move in a way consistent with known atmospheric phenomena.
There were no visible edges. No metallic sheen. Just a region where the sky appeared… wrong.
Strand who has investigated anomalous aerial phenomena for decades, including documented optical and atmospheric anomalies, later said the most striking aspect was not the shape, but the perception that he was not looking at something, he was looking into something.
Strand's encounter is not an isolated report. Such transient anomalies are rare, but they appear repeatedly in UFO case files.
Dolan linked Strand’s experience to an obscure 1973 sighting in Hawaii, where multiple witnesses described a bright, door-like opening appearing briefly among the stars.
In both cases, observers emphasized the same detail: The phenomenon did not travel across the sky. It appeared in place. Then it was gone.
From a research standpoint, these reports matter because they don’t fit easy categories.
Possible explanations range from: Rare optical or atmospheric effects. Advanced light-manipulation or cloaking concepts or short-lived electromagnetic or space-time anomalies. But none are confirmed. All remain speculative.
Not everything unidentified may be traveling here. Some things may simply open.