NUFORC Sighting 178191

Occurred: 2023-09-02 11:00 Local
Reported: 2023-09-11 06:17 Pacific
Duration: 7 minutes
No of observers: 0

Location: Clayton, NC, USA
Location details: Large, open field. Distant tree line approximately 250 meters north of where I stood.

Shape: Oval

White motionless dot in a clear blue sky which disappeared and reappear two times in different locations in a linear path.

I was walking my dog at approximately 11:00 am on September 2, 2023. It was a beautiful clear day. There may have been a few wispy low level clouds that I noticed earlier during the walk but at the time of my encounter there were no visible clouds. I reached Latitude 35.655348 Longitude -78.350902 and was climbing a small hill north of a small pond next to Triangle YMCA when I looked NNE and saw a hawk in a dive approximately 30 degrees off the horizon. Behind the hawk, I saw a small, oval, white “orb” for lack of a better description. It was slightly larger than a sesame seed held at arms length. I wouldn’t have paid any attention to it, but the movement of the hawk caught my eye. Otherwise, I most likely would have missed this. In fact, initially I thought it was a white bird, perhaps fighting with the hawk. I lost visual sight of the hawk because it blended in with the tree line, but the white orb sat motionless in the sky. I used to be an aviator with the US Air Force and I am used to spotting objects in the sky and familiar with their movement patterns in order to de-conflict traffic. This object was behaving abnormally due to its lack of motion in the sky but honestly, I didn’t think much of it. I continued to walk with my dog off the leash heading north, and the object became obscured behind a tree that was close by me hindering my view. It took me 10 to 15 seconds to pass by the tree and obtain another unobscured view of the sky as a crested the small hill. Curiously I looked up for the object and saw that it was gone. I thought that was a little strange and I proceeded to scan approximately 30° off the horizon from west to east several times looking for movement. I could see nothing, not even small aircraft which frequent the area. I took my eyes off the sky for a few seconds for whatever reason (maybe glancing at my dog or looking down to secure footing), and then looked back towards the area and was surprised to see the object had returned. I stopped walking and decided to observe the characteristics of this object. Again, it was motionless and about a outstretched hand’s width further to the east. I noticed that the object seemed to increase and decrease in size every few seconds, making it clearly visible one moment and then harder to see the next moment. At this point, the object really had my attention solely for the fact that this was unique. I immediately began trying to determine what I was seeing.
My first assumption is that this was an aircraft on the horizon, making turns which allowed it to reflect the sun at variable brightness based on its profile in various positions, making it more visible and less visible as it maneuvered. The problem with this assumption is that it appeared motionless in the sky for several minutes. I considered that perhaps it was moving away but that wouldn’t it explain why it appeared to be decreasing and then increasing in size from my vantage point. I considered that this might be a balloon but how could it be motionless when visible, disappear and reappear few miles from its original position and becoming motionless again? It is not my intention to speculate on this craft, but I think it’s important to let you know my mindset as I was observing this. Had it acted like any aircraft I had seen in the past while flying, I wouldn’t have paid any attention beyond a curious glance. It was the uniqueness, and it’s characteristics of flight that caught my attention. It made no sense to me.
As I stood and watched the object, I speculated on what it could be, then I realized that my dog was off leash and wandering the field alone behind me. I turned my head to call him back to my side and as I turned back to continue observing the object, it was gone. I began meticulously scanning of the horizon for movement and remember laughing out loud at how odd this situation had become. I didn’t observe any motion in the sky. A lot of times, when an aircraft adjusts its attitude and position, it will no longer reflect the sunlight and become less visible, but your eyes can still catch movement of the craft. There was absolutely nothing observable in the sky after it disappeared. I hooked my dog to my leash and settled in to observe the sky for the next several minutes. I would estimate 2 to 3 minutes passed when the object came into view a third time and was another one to two hand widths across the horizon towards the east. It slowly faded into view and behaved just as it had before. It appeared motionless but this time remained a constant size and brightness. At this point, I determined I wasn’t going to take my eyes off it except to blink. I patiently observed this object sit motionless, 30° off the horizon for about 90 seconds and then fade out of view over 3-5 seconds as if turning down a light source using a dimming switch. I must’ve stayed in that field for another 10 minutes, scanning the horizon and looking for any movement, but saw nothing. So I resumed my walk back to my house about 15 minutes away.
The only reason why I am reporting what I saw is that I have lots of experience as an aviator and this object behaved like nothing I had ever witnessed. Had it only popped into view once and disappeared, I would’ve dismiss this as an aircraft. But to watch it sit motionlessly, disappear, move unobserved across the horizon, then reappear only to sit motionless again was very strange. I have run through this scenario several times and every logical explanation simply returns with questions on the strange flight characteristics of this object. It most likely was an aircraft, but I just can’t explain how it behaved. There are plenty of little airfields locally and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base is about hour’s drive from this area. I consider that this may be a fighter jet maneuvering on the horizon but we hear those jets all the time. This object was absolutely silent.
Another strange thing was that I had no desire to pull out my phone and record this. It’s strange to me because recording seemed to not even be an option. It was like I didn’t even remember I had a phone on me. Maybe I was task saturated with observing this object and fleshing out what it could be?

Posted 2023-10-28