NUFORC Sighting 28129

Occurred: 1999-11-16 19:05 Local
Reported: 2003-03-13 22:09 Pacific
Duration: 10-15 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Terre Haute, IN, USA

Shape: Fireball
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

November 16, 1999 - Large meteor/fireball sighting in Indiana, folloed by UFO sighting later that evening.

I was walking back to my dorm at Indiana State University at around 19:05 when I looked up between the buildings in front of me and saw a very large fireball that was bright green in the center, and had a tail of orange flame that moved relatively slowly across the sky in front of me. It looked to fly directly over our campus, west to east, but it was fairly impossible to tell just how large or how high up it was. It really freaked me out though... There were about 10 other people within 100 yards of me on campus that noticed it too, and I heard loud yells of astonishment coming out of the windows of the dorms on campus near me (apparently they saw it too...). Unfourtunatley, I had a limited field of view because of the surrounding buildings, but started to run to try and get a clearer view once it went behind a building, but couldn't get a clear view. I later heard on the radio that the object had been seen around town, and was being explained away by local authorities as "space debris" on the radio. It was a very big, very dramatic fireball, the likes of would never have imagined. Later that night, I went with a friend to an observatory on top of one of the classroom buildings to try and see some of the Leonid Meteor action that was supposed to be taking place that night. After being there for about a half hour, we were standing next to two older couples who were up there for the same reason. One of the ladies suddenly said loudly, "what is that?!" I looked up and after searching for an instant, I saw to my utter amazement a trianguler shaped object with no lights move silently overhead. The clear night was disturbed by only a few very wispy and insignificant clouds at what looked to be about 2,000 plus feet, and the object just happened to catch my eye because of its movement, but my friend, and the other three older people couldn't spot it. It was relatively the same shade as the night sky, and again, had no lights on it. Well I felt like Iw as frozen, I was so surprised by the whole e! xperienc e. I watched the object for a good 15 seconds before it disappeared above some of the low-level clouds that I mentioned, and was heading from north to nearly due south. It the single most shocking-awe inspiring thing I have ever witnessed in my life. To describe the craft in more detail, again, it was triangular in shape, and moving point-forward. It had molding or cross-beams underneath that met in the center, and extended straight out to each of the three triangle points. I am extremely familiar with military and civilian aircraft, and wasn't anything I've ever seen or even heard of. It was completely foreign. And, again, possibly the wierdest and most disturbing thing was the fact that it had no lights, and flew SILENTLY directly overheadat what appeared to be no more than 4,000-5,000 feet i'd estimate. I know this sounds nuts, but I swear that it's absolutely true. TO the say the least, it was one interesting evening. First, the unbelievable fireball object, and then the UFO that I saw at the observatory. And the fact that I wasn't even the first one to see the UFO helps me to be able to assure myself that, yeah, this really happened. I will remember it for the rest of my life.



NUFORC Note:

We have amended the date shown above to November 16, 1999. Please see many other sightings for the same time and date. Mid-November is the time when the Leonid Meteor shower occurs. PD


Posted 2003-03-21

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