Announcing Collections: Making Sense of the Skies with Enigma
At Enigma, we spend each day tracking and examining anomalous aerial sightings. But with over 270,000 reports in our database, the volume of cases is overwhelming. The Enigma community wants ways to navigate and make sense of the dataset. That’s why we are thrilled to announce the launch of Collections.
Making Sense of “Flap” Events
The New Jersey sighting frenzy at the end of 2024 pulled in 2 million views to our live map, demonstrating massive demand from the public to look at sightings connected for that event. We had already started doing investigative case studies in private, but we had not yet built a feature enabling the Enigma community to quickly browse all cases connected to one event. Collections changes that.
Connecting the Dots across Themes
In addition, many of our sighters want to know if others saw the same thing as them. And as we receive more and more reports, patterns emerge. In just one example, at the Sol conference at Stanford, one sighter told us about his experience watching a green orb flying low in 1997 on the West coast. Then during our first visit to Virginia Beach where we hosted a skywatching event, an Enigma community member shared an almost identical story of a green orb flying low in 1997, this time on the East coast. Did they see the same object appearing in two different places? Were these sightings connected? While we don’t yet know the answer, we know that grouping sightings together can drive a richer understanding of what might be happening.
That’s why we built Collections.
What is a Collection?
A Collection is a group of related sightings—curated to help you explore a topic. Today, these are either UAP themes or specific clusters of sightings, known colloquially as “flaps.” Examples of our first published themes, which connect sightings across time and geography, include Large Triangles, Metallic Orbs, and Ocean Sightings. Flaps are clusters of sightings — think the Belgian Wave in 1989, the Phoenix Lights in 1997, or the New Jersey drone frenzy of 2024.
Hundreds of sightings might be eligible for each theme or flap. Instead of exhaustively listing every sighting, the Enigma team hand picks up to 30-40 representative sighting reports for the Collection, using verified user submissions and environmental data. Collections are purposeful, investigative snapshots designed to highlight what happened and why it matters.
Inside each Collection, you’ll find:
- A short overview on what we know
- A handful of selected sightings that represent the collection; a grid of media from this selection of sightings
- A chronological timeline of the selected sightings
- Quotes from the most interesting witness testimony
- Stats, and figures to help illustrate patterns
Collections let you zoom out from an individual case and start to connect the dots.
Where to find Collections
On Mobile — You’ll find the latest Collections within Top Sightings, the first and furthest left tab in the app. Collections will have a dedicated home soon. When a Collection is tapped, it opens a rich, story-like page with all the details.
On Web — Collections can be found under the Explore Menu on the home page or at enigmalabs.io/collection
What to do when you get there
Each Collection is designed to feel like a launchpad: jump into the sightings, explore the photos and videos, discuss theories with the community, or share the link with friends when you spot a flap that makes you think.
Nominating a Sighting for a Collection
If you’ve seen something that fits the pattern? Submit your sighting and mention the Collection in your description. Our moderation team reviews all submissions and adds relevant sightings to Collections.
Nominating Sighting Topics
In future, we will make it easy for Enigma users to create Collections themselves. For now, if there’s a specific event or theme you want to explore, send us a note with your idea at [email protected]
What’s next
Over time, we’ll layer in smarter discovery tools, maps filtered to the sightings within a Collection, and a permanent home for Collections. With each improvement we iterate towards the same goal: helping you understand the skies by sorting through the noise.
