NUFORC Sighting 74789

Occurred: 2010-03-25 21:00 Local
Reported: 2010-03-25 19:43 Pacific
Duration: 3 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: South Bend, IN, USA

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Lights on object

Object travelling in night sky below cloud deck eastbound illuminated (flashing & steady) green, red, white & shimmering violet light.

This object was observed while driving in residential area north of the University of Notre Dame. Weather was overcast and object was below the cloud deck. What at first appeared (and was assumed to be) a very large commercial aircraft took on a very different appearance upon closer inspection.

An impressive display of flashing lights is what caught my eye. Green and red lights similar to standard aviation craft were seen...however these were arrayed in larger numbers, particularly the red lights. A deep fluorescent violet light began to shimmer at one point along at least one edge of the object. As the object passed more overhead I could then see the bottom of it. On this aspect I could see a large bank of white lights (these were not bright white but had a somewhat warmer and yellow/orange tone) in a rectangular pattern. These somewhat shimmered and sparkled.

The object was traveling due east at a steady but undetermined speed. My guess was that it was traveling at approximately 300 to 600 MPH (depending on the actual height of it).

The object appeared to be quite large in that as it got further away, it did not really seem to diminish in size too much. On the other hand, it was below the cloud deck (the altitude of which I do not know), so sizing the object in that regard was not possible. I was driving alone and simply could not pull over in traffic to get a better look. There was a solid black background slightly visible behind these lights...so it was almost assuredly a solid structure that I was looking at.

If I had to guess, my general impression was that the object had a somewhat triangular shape. The size of the object by pure general impression, would have been approximately the size 1 to 4 times the size of a Boeing 747. I lost sight of the object behind trees.

The type of lights on the object were shimmering (violet), flashing (red and green), steady (red and green) as well as the steady yellow white rectangular lights which had a shimmering to sparkling aspect to them as well. The object, while in my view, did not behave any differently than that of an aircraft except that I have never seen an aircraft which was lit up in this spectacular fashion. Very interesting. I found your site after wondering if I could locate a similar type of sighting.

Posted 2010-04-13