NUFORC Sighting 31667

Occurred: 2001-01-10 05:13 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2003-09-20 18:40 Pacific
Duration: 30 secs
No of observers: 1000

Location: Arden, NC, USA

Shape: Cigar
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object, Aircraft nearby, Electrical or magnetic effects

High SPeed Cigar Shaped Object - Sky Turning Brighter Than Noon for 1000 Miles For Over 20 Secs

I still have the news footage talking about this night... was mentioned right after the discussion of the loss of the Mars Lander crashing into the surfice. At 5:13 that moonless night was walking out to get the mail... was facing the S/W sky. I saw the sky was lighting up on the holizon... was as bright as if an atomic bomb had hit Atlanta 400 miles away... the light came towards me, and looking up saw that that were 2 clouds over my head and they were so fully charged with electrical energy you could see plasma like activity on the clouds. The light in the sky continued to get brighter and wider till the whole sky was illuminated. As the intensity increased i was able to look around and saw street lights turning off, and could view objects far away as if were high noon. The light was not coming from any one location... rather the whole sky was as if suspended in cloud to cloud lightening. The intensity after 15 secs was so bright -- that it was actually brighter than high noon on a sunny day. The light was odd... made everything appear the wrong color. Some pine trees near me appeared blue.... a blue shit was wearing had a green tint.. was like a the lighting a "black lite" gives... all had that odd tint to it. Well 15 secs after the lighting had built to a peek saw moving across the sky at a VERY high rate of speed a cigar shape object... the object appeared like something out of a 1950s B grade movie. It had a metalic look to it... like a needle on the end. It looked cheaply made .. but the speed was one of the fastest objects ever seen cross the sky and am aware this could have distorted my perception of the shape. From the back appeared to be sparks like a fake spaceship would release in a B grade movie. I lost site as the objected entered clouds behind me. The sky remained illuminated for another say 10 secs. You could see the light receeding behind the object and vanishing back into the edge of the N.E. sky line. About 5 mins later 3 fighter craft passed over and ! was obvious they were following the object and they vanished in the same area of the sky as this object had vanished towards slighly before.

The offical news report said the object was seen from Montgomery Al. to past Asheville N.C. by 1000's. The offical news release went on to say that while hundreds of calls were made to police and sherrif's depts across the flight path, that it was believed to be a meterior.

While i saw no signs of any course correction... and as fast as the object was moving realize i cannot swear to the appearance... what has struck me odd all this time was a few things: 1. The amount of EM energy that it would take to produce this much lighting.

2. The lighting in the sky came BEFORE the object by at least 10 - 15 secs at the peek.

3. Watching the clouds... the plasma moving on the edges was so odd.

4. The craft was actually the least amazing part of the siting.

5. Aircraft do not chase meteriors.

I wish i had been able to take EM / mag readings during the passover or gotten some video footage of the event. If you are curious have the WLOS TV news coverage with some police officers talking about it on this night and how freaky it was.

I asked and never got a reasonable explanation to why the lighting came so long before the ~whatever it was~ and just how much energy it would take to excite what i assume is the ionasphere during this siting to be so bright for such a duration over so wide an area as this was seen.

NUFORC Note:

Date is approximate. PD

Posted 2003-09-24