Shawnee Kansas Triangle: Six Witnesses, Two Photos, EMF Anomalies, MUFON STAR Team Investigation
On the evening of 21 August 2009, six teenagers gathered at a neighbourhood pond on the north side of Shawnee Mission Parkway in Shawnee, Kansas (GPS: 39°00'51"N, 94°47'59"W) observed a large, dark triangular craft moving slowly overhead. The object was described as a perfect isosceles triangle, black in colour, carrying approximately 50 yellow-orange lights across its underside and a single red flashing light at one edge. It emitted a low-pitched hum but was otherwise silent. One witness, Arielle Brooks, photographed the object with her LG VX-8550 cell phone at 20:48 — the timestamp was later verified by investigators against the device's metadata.
A second photograph was subsequently discovered on a blog, reportedly taken by a police officer the same evening from the intersection of Shawnee Mission Parkway and Mastin. The light configuration in both images matched. The MUFON STAR Team conducted a multi-day on-site investigation, interviewing witnesses individually, measuring EMF readings at the pond and surrounding area, and documenting post-sighting anomalies in the witnesses' neighbourhood including unexplained power outages, equipment malfunctions, and vehicle gauge irregularities. MUFON concluded the object was of unknown origin.
Background
The Shawnee Kansas triangle case of August 2009 is one of the most thoroughly documented civilian UAP incidents in the MUFON archive. It combines multiple independent witnesses, two corroborating photographs from different locations, a sustained MUFON STAR Team investigation, and post-sighting electromagnetic anomalies.
The Incident
Six teenagers were seated on benches at the north end of a neighbourhood pond at coordinates 39°00'51"N, 94°47'59"W when they noticed a triangular arrangement of lights to the south.
Initially dismissed as a blimp or advertising aircraft, the object reappeared minutes later at a significantly lower altitude—directly overhead.
Witnesses described its underside as covered in up to 50 yellow-orange lights that did not illuminate the ground despite their brightness, plus one red strobe light on the craft's perimeter.
The body was distinctly triangular, thin, and darker than the surrounding night sky.
Movement and Disappearance
The object moved slowly to the east, hovered briefly, appeared to reverse direction slightly, then accelerated and vanished—not through gradual dimming but through an instantaneous disappearance.
Total observation time was estimated between 3 and 5 minutes.
Photographs
Arielle Brooks photographed the object at 20:48 on an LG VX-8550 with a 1.3-megapixel camera.
The phone was later physically verified against the device she had during the interview.
A second independent photograph—taken the same evening by a police officer at Shawnee Mission Parkway and Mastin—showed an identical light pattern, corroborating the teenagers' account from a separate vantage point.
Investigation
The MUFON STAR Team, coordinated by Richard Lang and accompanied by field investigator Steve Winans, arrived on 26 August 2009 for a full multi-day investigation.
They documented post-sighting anomalies:
- Unexplained power outages affecting 150 customers in the area (cause listed as "unknown" by Westar Energy)
- A mother's vehicle gauges behaving erratically near the sighting location
- An appliance fire at a witness's home
- Flickering lights at a local school
EMF readings at the pond and surrounding streets were within normal ranges, with the only elevated readings found near above-ground power lines.
Analysis
Whiteman AFB, home of the B-2 stealth bomber, lies roughly 70 miles from Shawnee.
Investigators examined and largely excluded the B-2 hypothesis based on the craft's apparent ability to hover, its extremely low altitude, and a light configuration incompatible with any known military aircraft.