Animal Reaction Feature:

Dogs in the Sudden Valley area began howling and at about the same time, an odd cyclic humming sound was heard.  Looking around, witnesses saw a large object with a repeating, spectacular light display.  The object was nearly overhead when first seen, and at this point, the witnessesdog appeared bothered and jumped inside their vehicle whose door was open [not stated if this dog vocalized or howledjw]

The Sighting:

Sudden Valley [48.723°N, 122.345°W], mentioned in the sighting, is located next to Lake Whatcom and is 9.5 miles SE of Bellingham.

The two witnesses were husband and wife.  At 8:45 PM PST, they were at home in a generally wooded environment.  The wife was standing outside watching her husband chop wood when the sighting occurred.  Both submitted reports to NUFORC, and Peter Davenport spoke to the husband, finding him credible and cogent.  Duration of the sighting was estimated as 5-10 minutes (wife) and 2-3 minutes (husband).

The night was reported as clear, star-filled, and cold.  [End of twilight was 4:41 PM PST; a 23% visible waxing moon crescent set at 8:53 PM (U.S. Naval Observatory).  Planets were not a factor, with only Saturn visible low in the east (Heavens-above.com).  Auroras were not expected (Spaceweather.com).jw]

The sound.--The husband described the sound as a hum that cycled from low to high to low.  The wife described the sound as strange, loud, and eerie, and she thought it was coming from deep in the woods.

The object.--Searching for the source of the sound, the husband looked up and saw a hovering object.  He described seeing a red light make a circle at the top and cascade down to the base, thus showing the size of the object (huge).  Once the red light reached the center of the base at the bottom, four lines of light went from the center to the outside, completing a circle around the outside of the object [as best I can understandjw].  The amazing displaywas repetitive.  The husband followed the craft on foot as it moved south, seeming to follow their driveway, made a right angle turn to the west, now following a street. He said he got a side view of the object and described its shape as like a top hat with a circular base.  He estimated the object was 200 feet in diameter, and estimated its altitude as ~1,000 feet.

The wife described round lights of green, yellow, and a large red light.  She described the lights coming from the center of the object and further described lines of light that went from the center to the outer part, lighting up the underneath of the entire object.  She also described a repetitive light display.  She thought the shape was triangular,[whether a horizontal or vertical triangle is not statedjw]. When she first saw the object it was slightly to her left, right aboveher.  She agreed the object moved south along the drive and then made a right-angle turn to follow the street.  She also thought the objects altitude was ~1,000 feet, and she thought the object moved with a zigzag pattern as her husband was following it down the street.

No EM or physiological effects were reported.

[NOTE: Blimp seems at least a remote possibility when considering this sighting.   A search for blimp night advertising displaysshows advertising blimp display broads up to  ~80-100 feet long and 20-45 feet wide, one on each side of the blimp, with thousands of lights.  If the sound or the light display strikes anyone as something they might have encountered associated with an advertising blimp, it would be interesting to hear about it  (sky.cat@att.net)--jw]