NUFORC Sighting 107434

Occurred: 2014-02-23 21:30 Local
Reported: 2014-02-24 11:16 Pacific
Duration: 3 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Kilmarnock, VA, USA

Shape: Triangle
Characteristics: Lights on object

Large, silent, high-flying speedy aircraft with triangle light alignment frightens skeptic.

9:30 pm last night.

First off, I'm a lifetime skeptic in every sense. I've never seen a UFO or anything that I couldn't think of a plausible explanation for. I don't believe in ghosts, bigfoot, chupacabra, or alien-abductions. I'm a college-educated guy who has always had an interest in science and technology. I wasn't on drugs or drinking. I have no history of mental illness. My assumption is that last night I caught a rare, brief glimpse of some kind of stealth aircraft of some sort. That assumption doesn't make the vivid memory of it less discombobulating to me.

Last night was clear and starry. So clear and nice that I had gone outside to watch the International Space Station do a pass-over just after sunset. Later in the evening I went outside to smoke a cigarette. The sky seemed even more deeply dark and starry at that point.

I was smoking and gazing up at the constellation Orion, wondering what the name of the bright orange star in the constellation was (it's Betelgeuse.) Because i'm so curious, I pulled out my iPhone and launched an astronomy map that identifies stars. It uses the phone's accelerometer to label stars and planets as you point the phone around the night sky.

After satisfying my curiosity, I put the phone back in my pocket and returned my gaze to Orion when suddenly a fast-moving triangular set of solid reddish lights caught my eye moving from zenith down towards the Orion's belt. The direction was from NE at zenith to SW when it disappeared after a solid, enthralling three seconds. Absolutely no sound whatsoever!

The diameter of the perfect triangle was the width of about 2 of my thumbnails held at arm's length. It disappeared right about parallel to Orion's belt to its right.

I felt speechless, like I had seen a ghost for the first time. What was so striking was that it seemed to be massive, supersonic, and flying at a high altitude. What implied massive and high altitude, to me, was the fact that at no time during those three seconds did the individual lights in the triangular formation seem to change position in relation to one another. If the object were lower, the fixed lights would have appeared to come together as it continued on its straight course to the SW.

It was also disturbing to not hear any noise.

I'm unsure how to accurately describe its speed, but the speed seemed tremendous when including the lack of perspective distortion of the lights. The lights were orange or red and of similar brightness to a constellation like Orion. But this thing was booking it. It instantly seemed unnatural and part of some type of technology because of its perfect symmetry and straight-line path.

I'm still kind of in shock. I'm still looking for some kind of explanation. I've thought of every angle to debunk my own vivid memory of it and can't think of anything. Some kind of meteor which had its light perfectly refracted into a triad by the atmosphere? I'm not an astro-physicist but I wish Neil Degrasse Tyson had been with me to witness what I saw.

I have been looking up at the sky all my life. I have seen meteors, comets, satellites, aircraft, weird weather….I have never seen anything like what I saw last night.

Posted 2014-02-27

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