Form
97-AR
Date: Saturday, 04 Feb 2006
Cat:
4
To: NICAP
Animal Reaction Feature:
A normally very quiet dog that lives two houses down from the witness was heard barking during the sighting. [The dog was not under observation, so the direction of the dog’s attention while barking is unknown. For this reason, there is not a tight connection between the dog’s barking and the unknown. Possibly the dog was barking because the witness was behaving strangely (from the dog’s point of view) as this sighting took place—jw].
The Sighting:
The witness submitted a clearly written report to NUFORC, and describes himself as an aviation enthusiast. Based on 3 phone conversations with the witness, Peter Davenport found him to be an “exceptionally capable, and reliable, witness.”
Early on a Sunday night, the witness went into his backyard [sunset had occurred at 6:25 PM PDT; the moon was waxing gibbous with 99% of disk illuminated, and had risen at 6:04 PM PDT (USNO)—jw]. At 7:46 PM, he saw a long rectangular dark object “streaking” from south to north. He estimated the dark object was perhaps a few blocks away, and it was moving so fast the witness first thought there was something wrong with his eyes. Then he saw it slow and turn in a more easterly direction.
Disturbed, the witness ducked under a tree for about 10 seconds, then looked for the object, finding it due north of him, now traveling toward the ESE at a speed that he compared to that of a Cessna. The object now appeared oval shaped.
When the object was NNE of the witness, at an estimated 100-300 feet off the ground, it appeared to stay in place for 10 seconds and then to get larger. The witness through it was coming toward him and, uneasy, went to his back door (and noticed the dog barking). After about 15 more seconds, the object appeared to get smaller and then it was gone. The witness felt it could have come as close as a block away from him, and if this were true, then he estimated its length to be 30-40 feet. Duration of the sighting was about 1 minute.
The object had no lights and was compared to a gray cloud when it was not moving fast. It was only visible due to the bright moonlight. In fact, the witness commented that had he not seen its movements, he could have thought it to be a cloud.
After the sighting, the witness noted a few clouds in the north were moving in a westerly direction, whereas the object moved east. Later, the witness checked The Weather Channel, which reported clouds moving toward the ocean.
No sounds, no EM effects, and no physiological effects reported. Although his body hair stood on end, witness clearly stated it was due to a chill effect when he realized he was seeing something very unusual and not a static electricity effect.
Source:
National UFO Reporting Center, Peter Davenport:
http://www.nuforc.org/webreports/047/S47043.html
http://www.nuforc.org/webreports/047/S47039.html