Luis Elizondo, the former Pentagon official who once ran the government’s secretive Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), recently unveiled a controversial UFO image that he claims shows a massive “mothership” over Romania.
However, the photograph, presented at a private event in Philadelphia, has been met with skepticism from both UFO believers and skeptics, with internet sleuths suggesting it may simply be a reflection of an indoor chandelier caught in a window.
During his presentation, Elizondo described the craft as “a huge mini city floating in the sky,” comparing it to the iconic mothership from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He added that the photo, allegedly taken near the U.S. Embassy in Romania in 2022, is part of a larger body of reports from military and civilian pilots describing similar craft over Eastern Europe and the Middle East. However, online researchers quickly traced the image to a September 2023 post in a Facebook group called “Mysterious Ancient Discoveries,” with a higher-resolution version showing a telltale resemblance to a chandelier reflection.
The controversy doesn’t stop there. Critics, including Air Force veteran Jeremy McGowan, have come forward to question Elizondo’s pattern of handling UFO information. McGowan, who worked with Elizondo on the History Channel’s Unidentified, shared with DailyMail.com that he felt misled by Elizondo, who once showed him what he claimed was classified footage on a civilian cell phone.
According to McGowan, the video was actually a decades-old clip from the Soviet Union’s Phobos 2 probe, a well-known but unverified piece of UFO lore from 1991. McGowan described feeling “used” by Elizondo and the show’s production team, who failed to connect him with other witnesses to a UFO sighting he experienced during his military service.
We now know via @blackvaultcom (see his latest posts) that it was just a reflection of a chandelier in a window. If it’s fake, how could pilots/US embassy confirm seeing this? Here he claims a “friend in the Government” gave him the image, but it was actually found on Facebook. pic.twitter.com/91isvukLck
— The Average Chris (@AeroTech_Space) October 31, 2024
Elizondo’s reputation among UFO enthusiasts is taking a hit from this latest incident. Social media users on Reddit and other platforms expressed frustration, with some accusing Elizondo of “muddying the waters” around UFO discussions and using sensational claims to boost his speaking engagements and book sales. In response to the backlash, Elizondo stated that he had received the Romanian photo from a “friend in Government,” though this explanation has done little to placate critics.
While Elizondo’s presentation may have left a mark on his credibility, concerns over so-called “mothership” UFOs are not new. Recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) releases have documented federal and military unease over large, unidentified craft reportedly seen near sensitive sites. In 2019 and 2020, reports of mysterious drones and possible “motherships” surfaced in eastern Colorado and nearby states, causing alarm due to their proximity to Minuteman nuclear missile silos.
One report from F.E. Warren Air Force Base described a six-foot “mothership” flanked by ten smaller drones, clocked by local sheriffs’ deputies at speeds up to 70 mph.
