NUFORC Sighting 17438

Occurred: 2001-04-27 23:00 Local
Reported: 2001-04-28 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 5 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Alpine, CA, USA

Shape: Triangle

Sighted a triangle object, dark moving at a tremendous speed, silently out of sight past the horizon in 5 seconds.

Friday night at about 11:00 pm I saw the strangest thing while looking at the night sky. Looking straight up I saw a line of light in the sky that my first reaction was that Oh its a shooting star. But the light didn't fade out like a shooting star would and the light didn't move in a downward motion but in a horizontal movement across the sky. Then I realized I'm looking at lit up side or a reflecting side or edge of an object. My next reaction was that I must be seeing an owl gliding across the night sky trying to rationalize this when I immediately realized this is no owl. I could make out the sides of a 3 sided object dark as the night sky itself but the sides were just barely visible. I felt that rather then looking at just a dark object, not lit up that I felt it was camouflaged to the night sky. I don't know how to explain that but that's a feeling that went through me. My reaction in a split second was "how sneaky this thing is". I want to say it was not lit, it seemed as black and void as the night sky, but I was able to make out the 3 sides. I'm not sure if it was reflections or actual lights very dim that shown its form, but I could make out its shape. No doubt though at what I was seeing even as quick as it was I was able to get a clear view and take it all in. 3 sided, like a guitar pick shape.When it passed in front of the stars the shape was also that much more easier to decern. Heading west to east. When it was out of sight I even thought to hold my hand out in the sky to try to judge the size it took up in the sky. When I held my hand out I would say that it was the size of half of my hand size. It was not a far off object I was looking at. Marine helicopters fly through this corridor daily heading for The Miramar Base, this object seemed to be moving at about that or just above that height that the helicopters fly at. What that elevation is I dont know but that is the best way for me to judge what height in the sky the object seemed to be. Not a sound, and because there was no sound ! and it m oved at a tremendous speed my mind was searching for a different word then flying. It was one of those things where if you weren't looking in just the right spot at the right time you would never have seen it, it was so stealthy. I saw it from directly over my head and disappear past the mountains in the east 10 miles away in 5 seconds. Once it was out of sight I stood staring at the sky for another 15 minutes trying to understand what the heck could it have been and thinking perhaps I might see it again. The frustration of not being able to understand what could be that shape, that quiet, that dark and move at that rate of speed, made me not even want to think about it at all until I spoke to my wife about it the next day. I couldn't fit it into a box in my mind or relate it to anything Ive ever seen, and that can be frustrating. Do we have something that can move at night like this ? If we dont then someone does, there is NO doubt about that in my mind now. I'm sending a little drawing of how it looked to me as I looked up at what I would guess was its underside. Side A is the edge I first noticed glimmering that I thought was a line of light in the sky that was a shooting star. Side B would be the side closest to me looking up and the front was the portion of the object that was at the head of it moving towards the east.

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NUFORC Note:

We spoke with this witness at length, and we found him to be exceptionally eloquent, lucid in his description of the object he allegedly witnessed, and able to describe it precisely. We provide the digital image he provided with his report.

Posted 2001-04-28