Barely Disputed

The MacDill "JP" Triangle Photos

Near MacDill AFB, Tampa, Florida · August to October 2017 · Photograph · United States

The photos look like nothing else in this archive: a dark triangle over a Tampa rooftop that, frame by frame, appears to flare into a ring of light and ascend. The catch is the chain of custody. Every image traces to a single anonymous source called JP, published by a promoter whose site also suggested a hurricane was steered by space weapons, and the base across the bay laughed the whole thing off on the record.

What did witnesses see at Near MacDill AFB?

A small dark triangular object in clear daytime sky over a rooftop near MacDill Air Force Base, photographed in six successive frames on 31 August 2017 in which the object appears to power up into a brilliant glowing ring before ascending. Later sets from the same source claimed a triangle shadowed by a military helicopter, flying rectangles, and a close-range night triangle with a light at each corner (Orlando, February 2019). The series is often misdated to 2019 because of that follow-up set and a recirculated news story.

More footage and images of this sighting

First frame of the 31 August 2017 series: the object as a small dark triangle over the rooftop, before the apparent flare (via Exopolitics).

Michael Salla's contemporaneous video on the September 2017 JP photo sets. Included as the primary promotion of the case; weigh his role accordingly.

Salla's video on the September 2017 set allegedly showing the triangle shadowed by a military helicopter.

What is the official explanation?

Terry Montrose, spokesman for MacDill's 6th Air Mobility Wing, laughed when the Tampa Bay Times asked and said: "No, there are no secret UFOs or a secret Air Force Space Wing at MacDill. There are no flying triangles." No investigation followed.

What did the witnesses think it was?

An anonymous Tampa-area source using the pseudonym JP, who claims contact with human-looking extraterrestrials and rides aboard craft of a secret space program. The photos were published and promoted by Dr. Michael Salla of Exopolitics.org from September 2017.

The dispute

The dispute over the MacDill triangle photos runs along two separate lines, neither of which actually identifies the object. The first is a prosaic counter-explanation surfaced by the archive's own two-pass assessment: a consumer drone or kite flown near the camera fits the frames. This is the most concrete competing reading of the images, but the page is explicit that it "has never been excluded by any published method." No one has matched a specific drone or kite model to the morphology, reconstructed the geometry, or demonstrated how a near-camera object produces the claimed power-up sequence. It survives as a plausible default that no analyst has done the work to confirm, which makes it a standing possibility rather than a settled finding.

The second line is the official response, and it is weaker still as a debunk. Terry Montrose, spokesman for MacDill's 6th Air Mobility Wing, laughed when the Tampa Bay Times asked and said, "No, there are no secret UFOs or a secret Air Force Space Wing at MacDill. There are no flying triangles." Per this archive's method, that is an apparatus assertion, not a verdict: it is a flat denial with no investigation behind it, and the page itself flags that "no investigation followed" and credits it as "a bare denial (not credited as a debunk)." A spokesman denying secret craft does nothing to identify what was photographed and does not close the case.

What genuinely weakens the sighting is provenance, not any demonstrated explanation. The images trace to a single anonymous Tampa-area source using the pseudonym JP, who claims contact with human-looking extraterrestrials and rides aboard a secret-space-program craft, and who was published and promoted by Dr. Michael Salla of Exopolitics.org from September 2017. There are no negatives or metadata, the shots are distant and uncalibrated, and the chain of custody runs entirely through a contactee with strong incentives. A 2024 independent error-level analysis found no digital-manipulation artifacts, but as the page notes, that "speaks to file authenticity but not to what the object is," so it neither confirms a craft nor exposes a fake.

The case therefore largely stands as Disputed. No named skeptic has produced an identified object, no demonstrated technique reproduces the frames, and there is no confession or conclusive official ruling; the drone or kite reading is admittedly unexcluded, and the Air Force line is an unsupported assertion. At the same time the provenance problems are real and unresolved, so the photos cannot be promoted as solid evidence either. Both the debunk and the claim fall short of settling it, which is exactly why the dispute is barely a debunk rather than a strong one.

Is the MacDill "JP" Triangle Photos real? The two-pass assessment

Pass one: a single anonymous source, no negatives or metadata, distant uncalibrated sky shots, and a promoter with a heavy credibility problem; a consumer drone or kite near the camera fits the frames and has never been excluded by any published method. A 2024 independent error-level analysis found no digital-manipulation artifacts, which speaks to file authenticity but not to what the object is. Pass two: the power-up sequence and the recurring black-triangle morphology, which has a long independent witness history. Verdict: Disputed. The official response is a bare denial (not credited as a debunk), but the provenance problems are real and unresolved.