NUFORC Sighting 86966

Occurred: 1998-10-01 10:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2012-02-02 14:03 Pacific
Duration: 6-7 Minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: San Francisco, CA, USA

Shape: Sphere

Soccer Balls over SF

I do not recall the date or even exact time of the year but likely it was Autumn of 1997 or 1998 in San Francisco, California.

At approximately 10 AM I was standing in the redevelopment zone now known as Mission Bay, adjacent to the old Bethlehem Steel Yard just 60 yds north of the restaurant/lounge called Mission Rock Resort. I was drinking coffee and watching the view across the Bay to the east when I saw two white "balls" just feet off of the deck of SF Bay coming towards me from the direction of the Oakland Airport. I took these to be two Sikorsky S61 helicopters of the USCG and thought that I was about to witness a test exercise. However as they came closer into view I realized that these objects had no wings or rotors.

They were soon in good view and the day being near perfectly clear, warm and quiet in my location I could see that they would pass me at near ground level. As they approached at an estimated 30 mph I could plainly see that they were two separate objects of equal size in the shape of soccer balls, that is they were generally round but had a series of flat sides precisely like that of a soccer ball. As they neared the edge of the shore they, in perfect close formation, began to climb slightly to an altitude that I estimate as 250-300 ft and passed me only about the same distance laterally. I was simply awestruck. I witnessed two fisherman on a nearby dock who apparently saw nothing.

As the two objects passed my location (They made no sound, had no aura, lights or haze around them) they increased their altitude dramatically and climbed to an estimated 1000-1500 feet above the skyline of San Francisco. It was a weekend day, I believe Sunday and when I followed their progress to the north of me I noticed LARGE numbers of similar objects!

I am familiar with the San Francisco skyline and habits of its citizens and could not identify all of these objects. A few could have been Mylar party balloons that had gotten away from people and some others were definitely real hot-air balloons in the distance up in Sonoma. I always kept one eye on these two items while making these other observations.

Upon reaching their maximum altitude the two "craft" then did a maneuver about each other that I can only describe as a dance, similar to a deux-se-deux of a square dancer. This was only momentary and then they began, still in formation, to return along the same flight path that they had just traversed.

Since my first sighting of these two vessels perhaps only three minutes had passed. I knew that they would return my way yet I found it impossible to yell out to the only two others nearby, the fishermen, as I was so transfixed. I did notice a police squad car approaching at slow speed and briefly thought to hail them down but my astonishment was such that I could not speak a word! As expected these two objects returned at the same speed, passed me again at the same distance and again dropped down to the deck as they headed back towards the East Bay. I had no reference to judge their size and can only surmise that they were each about the size of two small autos. They were Flat (Mat) Hospital White in color and their surface, clearly solid, could have been metal or even fine wood. There were no windows, lights or protuberances of any kind. There were no flames, emissions, contrails or noise.

As for the great many other objects that I saw over the City skyline that day, some of which I identified as hot air balloons farther away in the distance and others possible Mylar balloons, there were perhaps 100 more objects, most of them shiny metallic. Most were stationary or nearly so, some actually moved in the opposite direction of the prevailing wind (Which was negligible that day). I could clearly see that these shiny metallic ones were rotating on their axis in a clockwise direction. Most made little lateral movement or altitude adjustments. As I was focused on the two "soccer balls" I dismissed these others, though I found them quite dramatic.

I spent the rest of the weekend awed by this experience and upon returning to work at the SF Public Library on Monday I immediately discovered a flier in the lobby alerting people to the "continuing" UFO sightings on, around and about the Oakland Bay Bridge in the vicinity of it's Eastern terminus, an area now called South Beach. The flier stated that a CHP unit had observed it one night ( I think I have since read that somewhere else.) and that crowds were continuing to gather. The flier was an open invitation to join the crowd, however I did not. The flier further stated that the local media were aware of the ongoing phenomena but would not cover the story. As I have become so deadened to the UFO issue I did not think to report this to anyone. I promised Peter D. that I would write up this report regardless of it's age.

I lived in San Francisco for over twenty years and spent a great deal of time outside. Indeed I drove a taxi full time for about ten years, 50-60 hours per week. I am quite aware of the comings and goings of aircraft, flying debris, the relative wind, human activity and so forth in the City. Nothing that I can imagine can explain away the vast number of odd-acting objects that I observed that day other than the two or three that I noted above.

NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate. One of two seemingly credible reports from the same source. Other sighting occurred near Ocotillo Wells, California, on, or about May 01st, 1994. PD

Posted 2012-02-03