Mysterious Times Weekly Roundup W/E 20/05/26

The strange skies have been busy again this week. Between freshly released Pentagon UFO files, reports of mysterious underwater objects off the American coastline, and another surge in crop circle chatter across Britain, the week ending 20 May 2026 has offered plenty of fuel for late night conversations around the campfire.

As always in the world of the unexplained, some stories sit closer to documented fact while others drift into the realms of speculation and folklore. Either way, the boundary between mystery and modern news continues to blur in fascinating ways.

The biggest talking point this week has undoubtedly been the continuing release of declassified American UAP files through the newly launched PURSUE archive. The release, which began on 8 May, includes military footage, FBI files, NASA mission records and historical reports stretching back to the 1940s. Several outlets highlighted photographs connected to the Apollo missions, including strange lights captured during Apollo 17.

Officials stressed that the files do not confirm extraterrestrial life, though many incidents remain officially “unresolved”. ([Sky News][1])

Some of the more intriguing cases include reports of glowing objects making impossible turns over Kazakhstan, military infrared footage from the Middle East, and witness testimony involving luminous spheres over American military facilities. Researchers and sceptics alike have been combing through the material all week, arguing over whether the release represents genuine transparency or simply another carefully controlled data dump. ([Phys.org][2])

Meanwhile, attention has also turned beneath the waves. Reports circulating this week claimed that more than 9,000 unidentified submersible object sightings have been logged near United States coastlines since late 2025.

The reports, compiled through the Enigma sightings database, include accounts of fast moving objects entering and exiting the water, glowing shapes beneath the ocean surface, and apparent “transmedium” craft capable of moving between sea and sky. Retired military officials quoted in the reports expressed concern that at least some of the phenomena may represent unknown technology operating in restricted waters. ([New York Post][3])

Back here in Britain, crop circle season is beginning to stir once more. UFO and anomaly tracking websites have reported an uptick in discussions surrounding unusual formations and strange aerial sightings across southern England.

While no major verified formations have yet dominated headlines, enthusiasts are already watching Wiltshire and Hampshire closely as warmer weather and clearer night skies return. ([Aliens Digest][4])

Elsewhere in the world of oddity and high strangeness, lunar lore unexpectedly entered academic discussion this week through a paper examining Indigenous spiritual objections to commercial activity on the Moon.

While not paranormal in the traditional sense, the debate touches upon something deeply familiar within folklore studies: the idea that celestial bodies are not merely rocks in space, but sacred entities bound to myth, memory and identity. The paper references objections from Native American communities to the scattering of human remains on the Moon and questions how future lunar exploitation may collide with ancient beliefs. ([arXiv][5])

Online UFO communities have also been buzzing over fresh witness submissions involving jellyfish-like aerial anomalies, luminous domes and strange patterned lights appearing in American skies.

As ever, eyewitness testimony remains deeply subjective, but the sheer volume of reports continues to fascinate researchers who track patterns in modern folklore and anomalous experience. ([UFO Stalker][6])

Whether these stories ultimately prove to be misunderstood technology, psychological projection, elaborate hoaxes or something genuinely unknown, they continue to reveal an enduring truth about humanity.

We are still looking upward.

We are still searching dark waters and lonely fields for signs and symbols.

And perhaps most telling of all, we are still telling stories about the things we cannot quite explain.

Further reading and sources:

• [Sky News coverage of the Pentagon UFO files](https://news.sky.com/story/never-before-seen-files-on-ufos-released-by-pentagon-13541565)

• [ABC News report on the UAP archive release](https://abcnews.com/Politics/pentagon-begins-release-decades-unresolved-ufo-files/story?id=132780534)

• [EarthSky analysis of the newly released UAP records](https://earthsky.org/human-world/pentagon-ufo-files-uap-views-from-moon-nasa/)

• [New York Post report on underwater UFO sightings](https://nypost.com/2026/05/14/us-news/ufo-tracker-app-spots-thousands-of-mysterious-underwater-objects-off-us-shores/)

• [UFO Files Watch archive tracker](https://ufofileswatch.com/)

• [UFO Stalker sightings database](https://ufostalker.com/)

[1]: https://news.sky.com/story/never-before-seen-files-on-ufos-released-by-pentagon-13541565 “‘Never-before-seen’ files on UFOs released by Pentagon | US News | Sky News”

[2]: https://phys.org/news/2026-05-flying-discs-orbs-newly-pentagon.html”From flying discs to glowing orbs, these newly opened Pentagon files point somewhere stranger than expected”

[3]: https://nypost.com/2026/05/14/us-news/ufo-tracker-app-spots-thousands-of-mysterious-underwater-objects-off-us-shores/ “Thousands of mysterious underwater UFOs spotted off US shores: report”

[4]: https://aliensdigest.com/ “Aliens Digest – Latest UFO Sightings & UAP Disclosure News”

[5]: https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.17706 “‘Unacceptable to our people’: Diverse cultural beliefs, Indigenous rights, and the future of human activities on the Moon”

[6]: https://ufostalker.com/ “UFO Stalker | Real-Time UFO Sightings Map | Latest Reports, Photos, and Videos”

Copyright © 2026 Mysterious Times / Kirst Mason D’Raven. All rights reserved.

This article and images may not be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form without prior written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations used for review, commentary or scholarly purposes.

#alienEncounters #alienSightings #anomalousPhenomena #bizarreWorldNews #BritishCropCircles #conspiracyTheories #cropCircles #cryptoMysteries #Cryptozoology #declassifiedUFODocuments #extraterrestrialLife #Folklore #ForteanNews #fringeScience #hauntedHeadlines #highStrangeness #ModernFolklore #MysteriousLights #MysteriousTimes #mysteryNews #oddNews #paranormalInvestigation #ParanormalNews #PentagonUFOFiles #skyAnomalies #strangeSightings #supernaturalNews #UAP #UFO #UFODisclosure #uncannyEvents #underwaterUFOs #unexplainedEvents #unexplainedPhenomena #USOSightings #weeklyWeirdNews #weirdNews
National Archives Releases UAP Records

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) today released new records related to Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP). These records were transferred to the National Archives from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in accordance with sections 1841–1843 of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (Public Law 118-31). They are now part of the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Collection at the National Archives.

National Archives
Very remiss of me to assume that a link on academia dot edu could just be opened without going through the rigmarole of opening an account there (which I would automatically refuse if I encountered that obstacle). So here's an open link to the pdf of an essay on philosophical configurations of anomalous experience #Neurology #Migraine #FortificationSpectrum #Coincidence #CriticalTheory #WalterBenjamin #TheodorAdorno #AnomalousExperience #AnomalousPhenomena https://thegrammarofmatter.wordpress.com/2023/09/03/between-fractured-landscape-and-neurological-event-a-philosophical-configuration-of-anomalous-experience/
Between Fractured Landscape and Neurological Event: A Philosophical Configuration of Anomalous Experience

I make no bones of the fact that the following essay was rejected out of hand by a psychical research journal of record for being ‘philosophical heavy’ (sic) after what must have been a…

The Grammar of Matter