Over the years, researchers have been intrigued by accounts of UFO
sightings in the vicinity of or hovering over bodies of water and
man-made water reservoirs in particular. One of the most recent cases
to come to hand is only a one-witness case and although the observer
was afraid, he appears to have remembered considerable detail.
This report comes from Mr. Jun' lchi Takanashi, Chairman of the
Modern Space Flight Association, and APRO's Representative for Japan.
The witness has been given a pseudonym because he does not care to be
identified at this time.
The incident took place in July 1973 and at the time, the witness,
whom we shall call Masaki Kudou, does not recall the exact date. Kudou,
who was a sophomore at a University in the Kanto District, was employed
during the summer as a night watchman at a lumber yard in a small
industrial town on the south coast of Hokkaido. The incident, recalled
to have taken place in July 1973, took place in the lumberyard, which
is a deserted lonely place with only a few dark warehouses and chimneys
in the distance. Kudu notes that the job isn't a particularly pleasant
one as he was the only guard. After making his rounds of the
lumberyard, he returned in his car to his parking place, switched on
the car radio, lit a cigarette and was looking up at the clear night
sky through the driver's window, when a streak of light ran across the
sky.
Inasmuch as the light went out immediately, he thought it might,
have been a shooting-star, but then the light re-appeared at the very
spot where it had gone out, in the same fashion as a bulb would be
switched on, travel some distance, then be switched off and on again.
It looked to be the "size of a baseball" and orange in color. Kudou
admits that he was quite frightened, but he did watch the light which
moved to and fro in all directions within the limits of one meter (no
exact estimates are given - we don't know if this was at arm's length
or what). Suddenly, Kudou said, the light began a spiraling descent and
when it was down to an altitude just above the dome of a cement factory
in the distance, it began to send out what appeared to be intermittent
green light rays in one direction which he calculated to be north.
At this point, Kudou noted, the whole episode seemed to be
"science-fiction-like" and he was hoping that what he was watching
would prove to be a dream or his imagination. After it had stopped its'
"signaling", the object or light began to descend over the waters of
the bay; describing a large arc which was executed with startling
speed. Because the bay waters were within his range of vision, Kudou
was able to observe what transpired from that time on. He said the
light descended to an altitude of about 20 meters (75 feet) above the
surface, of the water and stopped, and then from the underside of the
light came what appeared to be a glass-like transparent tube and when
the leading edge of the tube touched the surface of the water, that
part of the tube began to glow and appeared to be sucking up the bay
water. Accompanying the projection of the tube to the water, was a
sound which Kudou described to be like the sound of a cicada (insect)
which emits sound like "min-min-min-min", but the sound accompanying
the tube was not so monotonous and appeared to be lower in pitch.
Kudou at this point was very puzzled and quite frightened, and
dropped his head down, and when he lifted his head again the object
appeared to have finished its sucking action and was maintaining its
position in the same place. The next maneuver by the light was to head
toward Kudou who became more frightened, and sat there glued to his
seat watching it approach at about 50 meters altitude, becoming larger
until it was "as large as a volleyball". The intensity of the light had
diminished as compared to its light at a distance. (or, Kudou said, it
might have seemed so as the surroundings were lit up by its light so
that it was like daylight) and was white instead of the original
orange. He could now make out more detail and noted that it was as
smooth and round as a ping-pong ball, and he could now see what
appeared to be small windows around the center of the object. In the
central one and in another window two windows to the right, he saw two
"eerie, shadow-like figures" which he said were too small and deformed
to be called the shadows of men".
Kudou said that at this point he bowed his head until it rested on
the steering wheel between his hands which had been clutching the wheel
all the time. But he was fascinated also and continued to look at the
object and had the feeling that he was bound hand and foot. As he
watched he spotted what appeared to be three gasoline drums connected
together lengthwise, hovering noiselessly in a blackish-dark-brown
silhouette to the left of the lighted object. The lighted object with
the windows began to move toward the elongated object, and then Kudou
spotted three or four more round, white lighted objects, located to his
left and to the right, of the long object. Then the four or five round
white objects appeared to be "sucked" into the long object which then
began to move into the north, at tremendous speed.
Kudou recalls that as the object moved away he began to realize
his whole body was numb, just as after we sit for a long time for a
yogi practice," and his car radio was emitting "meaningless sounds".
His head was aching severely also. Kudou thought that the experience
lasted from 11 to 12 minutes although it felt as if it was much longer.
He also said that he could not sleep that night after finishing his
tour of duty on watch.
source and references:
The A.P.R.O. Bulletin, Vol. 24, No. 10, April 1976, pp. 1,4 & 5
With thanks to Larry Hatchs *U* UFO DATABASE,