NUFORC Sighting 46169

Occurred: 1980-08-01 20:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2005-09-10 21:57 Pacific
Duration: 5 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Kendall (S. Miami), FL, USA

Shape: Cigar
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object, Emitted other objects

Fleet of silver-ish cigar shaped objects, one appearing after another and then disappearing.

Although I saw what I am about to describe a long time ago, I can still recall it exactly, as if it happened yesterday. I am by no means saying that what I saw came from "outer space:" just that I have never seen anything like it before or since and that it was very strange and un-earthly. And while I believe that there is a good chance that there is intelligent life out there in the universe, I do not particularly believe that it is coming here. Furthermore, I am the type of person who needs to see proof of something that is so unimaginable before being convinced that it exists. Not a skeptic - but not a believer either. My mind is open.

I am writing to you because I would like to know if what I saw matches the description of anything that anyone else has seen, or if there is an explanation for it. Although there was another witness, I have not seen him for many years and we never really spoke about it afterwards, probably because I was facing the scene and got a much better look. However, he definitely did see some of what I saw, so it was not just me.

Anyway, this is what I saw. It was around dusk. We were sitting at an outside swimming pool area in South Miami-Dade County in Florida, which is about thirty five miles south of Miami and near the Florida Keys (and the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico). I was facing south/southwest. I was absentmindedly looking at the sky, since we were just sitting there and relaxing and not doing much else. All of the sudden I saw a fairly large, cigar shaped object that was silver-grey in color. It was very strange because it's not like it came from anywhere, it was just -there-. The sky was relatively clear, and I should have been able to see it come from somewhere before it appeared in my view. For example, if you are watching an airplane fly, you can see it coming from somewhere and then it is in front of you and then you can watch it go away from you. But this object did not behave like that - one moment there was nothing there, and the next moment there was. And it is not like I even saw it appear - it was just "there" if that makes any sense to whoever is reading this. It did not appear like "poof!" and it's there, it just WAS there, where it WAS NOT before. I cannot explain it any more clearly than that. So it is in the sky and I am watching it. It makes no noise at all. Another strange thing was that it was hard to tell how high in the air it was. It's as if it was both close and far away at the same time. Overall, it did not seem to be very high - it seemed to be lower than a typical stratus cloud. My best estimate of the altitude is around 1,000 ft. Not being able to tell the altitude also makes it hard to estimate the size of the the thing, but I am guessing anywhere from 100 feet long to 300 feet long. It did not seem to be larger than any airplane or blimp that we have on Earth. It was also going slow, but not other-worldly slow (ie. too slow to remain in the air). However, speed is also hard to estimate without knowing how far it was from me. It did not make any strange or sudden moves, and moved in a south to southwest direction, as if heading towards the Gulf of Mexico. It did not seem to have any lights on it per se, but it did sort of glow - consider that it was near end of dusk when I saw it and the sky was fairly dark. It had no lights, yet I could see it. So it must have been illuminated in some way but it was sort of "hazy." Now - I would probably have forgotten about this a long time ago and figured that it was something that was somehow explainable. However - what happened next is what convinced me that I was seeing something -very- strange. Just as the object appeared, so did many others. First one, two, and by the time they were done there were around fifteen to twenty of them. They -seemed- to be emanating from the first one and then flying in a slow formation. They also seemed to be smaller, but of uniform shape and size. The strangest part of this whole thing was that I could never actually -see- the new ones appear. It was like the first one - it WAS NOT there, and then it WAS there. It's not like I could see it come from the first one, or see it "blink on." I really cannot explain - even to myself - how exactly they came into view.

After a couple of the new ones appeared, I pointed it out to my friend, who had his back to it at the time. He saw about half of what I saw, I suppose. So we watched them for a couple of minutes more, then just as strangely as they appeared - they were gone and I never saw them, or anything like them again.

I expected to see or hear something about this the next day, but there was nothing. Other people HAD to see it. The only thing that could help to explain what I saw is that it occurred in the general area of Homestead Air Force Base - but these things were nothing like anything else that I ever saw come from the base (or anywhere else) and I lived there for almost twenty years. They were not searchlights, nor did they look like anything else that man has ever made. And the way that they "appeared;" I have never seen anything even remotely like that, anywhere else.

That's my one UFO sighting. I say UFO because as far as I am concerned, that is exactly what they were - unidentified flying objects. I am not saying that they came from another galaxy. I do not know. It was definitely strange enough for me to write to you about it, around twenty-five years later (please note that the date of viewing that I entered here is very much approximate. It happened sometime between 1980 and 1983, and probably closer to 1980. The day and the month are a total guess - it was a warm evening, but we are talking about the Miami area and it's always warm in the evening).

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has seen something similar, or who can explain this. Please - only write to me if you saw either exactly what I saw or something very close - or if you think that you can explain what I saw, or if you are an investigator who wishes to hear more. But I am not a UFO "buff." Thanks.




NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that date of the event is approximate. PD


Posted 2005-09-15

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