NUFORC Sighting 16823

Occurred: 2001-03-13 22:00 Local
Reported: 2001-03-14 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 1 minute
No of observers: 1

Location: Ketchum, ID, USA

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object

High-altitude craft with red glow, executed brief series of non-Newtonian manouvers over Sun Valley, Idaho.

Was taking my dog "outside," staring at the stars as I do nightly. I saw a red point of light dancing around on a single cloud, assumed someone was playing with a laser pointer.

Then, the point started darting around beyond the boundaries of the small cloud, against the dark, starry night sky.

I then realized that it was a vehicle, not a laser pointer. What I witnessed had the quality of a "joy ride," of some presumably human pilot most likely taking a craft capable of non-Newtonian manoeuvers "around the block for a spin."

There was no discernable symmetry or discipline to the crafts movements; a few loops and zig-zags, darting over to another part of the sky, a few more loops and zigs before taking off to the south.

The sighting started with the craft almost directly overhead, slightly west, then darting about 30 or 40 degrees due east, then departing southward. As mentioned, the craft itself was a point of fuzzy red light, and constant (did not blink or vary noticeably in intensity).

Posted 2001-03-16