NUFORC Sighting 27139

Occurred: 1977-09-15 21:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2003-01-17 16:09 Pacific
Duration: 10 seconds
No of observers: 3

Location: Heber, AZ, USA

Shape: Triangle
Characteristics: Lights on object

Witnessed an enormous black triangle with lights traveling overhead, at a very low altitude at night in a remote area.

My brother and I were visiting a friend who lived in a remote area about 1 mile East of Highway 260 between Heber and Show Low, (closer to Heber). We were standing outside enjoying the stars and interesting conversation when a large craft crossed almost directly overhead. The tall Ponderosa pine trees did little to obscure it. Triangular, it had slowly flashing lights red or white at the corners. From the faint illumination of the lights and some starlight, the shape was very clear, the color was black or flat black. There was a faint sound that to me was a very slowly turning (idling) turbine engine like a jet sitting still or an APU on a commercial jet. Distinct, but quiet. It almost seemed ordinary. Almost a perfect triangle, with more or less FAA regulation lights traveling at an impossibly slow airspeed. We all looked up and after 2 or 3 seconds my friend and my brother continued the conversation. I was in awe. Impossible to gauge the distance - 300 ft above us or 1500 feet, no visual clues - it was massive. It was crawling, almost silent, yet almost ordinary looking because there was nothing dramatic about it. I kept watching it until it was hidden by the ridgeline about 200 yards behind the house. No matter how high it was, if it was 1500 feet above us it had to be proportionally bigger than it appeared if it was actually only 300 feet overhead. Nothing that massive that relies on aerodynamic lift or thrust could stay airborne moving that silently or that slowly. It was like watching a sightseeing bus coast past a scenic spot at 5mph. But buses don't rely on lift.

My brother is not terrificaly interested in technical phenomena but he's intelligent. My friend is a licensed Master electrican and licensed in HVAC, is very intelligent and served in Vietnam. I worked as a mechanic and worked 2 years as an aerospace machinist before I earned my computer degree from ASU. I've been a programmer for 2 decades, served in the Air Force and the Army, did a tour in Vietnam and am fairly familiar with aircraft. What I saw defied the law of physics as I understand them. 25 years later the impression/memory is just as strong. A big part of the reason for this was that, at the time, my brother and my friend did not react at all to what we had seen which astounded me. I had just seen something impossible and apparently it hadn't registerd with 2 intelligent, informed individuals who I knew well. It's hard to say which part of this event affected me more. What I had seen, or their lack of response. To this day, I don't understand what happened. In retrospect, it almost seems like the muffled "turbine engine sound" and the "legal" appearing lights were "camaflouge". Admittedly this is pure conjecture, but I repeat, nothing that massive can move that slowly and stay airborne. Interestingly, I looked at your website for the first time today and saw a report about Childs, AZ. My friend used to tell me about "lights" seen in the sky around the power station at Childs. But a year later I met someone whose uncle was in the military and claimed that prototype Cruise missles were extensively tested in Northern Arizona, and particularly in locations like the Verde Valley where Childs is located. I now this episode doesn't sound impressive but what I saw is burned in my memory and defies logic. I can still vividly remember this huge black triangle "floating" over our heads.

((FOLLOW-UP COMMUNICATION FROM WITNESS))

Thank you for publishing my 9/77 sighting in Heber, Arizona. I looked today to see if you "printed" it and then browsed the New Mexico reports because my wife and I plan to move there.

I was really impressed by someone's sighting on 1/3/94 west of Albuquerque on I-40. She saw a "huge" "silent" "slow" "black" "triangular" "craft" with lights at a very low altitude. She couldn't explain her reaction/response or her husband's. I don't feel like the Lone Ranger anymore. How similar, even though 17 years and 100 miles apart.

I'm sure you see this kind of commonality in reports all the time, but it sure impressed me. No one has given any real credence to my "sighting" so I never talk about it. I've been pretty much a skeptic in spite of what I saw. I've reactivated my email at ((e-address deleted)) since I submitted my report, but I really don't have anything to add. My brother probably only vaguely remembers the event. I brought up the subject a few years after it happened and he didn't remember it as being significant and I don't know where my friend moved to. He was in a branch of Army Intelligence when he was in the Army which makes it all the stranger that he had no reaction to what we saw. Your guess is as good as mine, but it sure was neat watching this monster cruise overhead like it was in slow motion. I feel sort of privileged or lucky, This obviously isn't a report but I appreciate your dedication to this topic and thought you might like a little feedback, so to speak, the similarities I saw between my sighting and the one in NM. I'm becoming a believer.

If you care to email me, could you give me a hint as to why you think "they" don't formally contact us and just tease/study us, instead? My theory is it's because we're such crude homicidal, genocidal morons. It's too soon.

((END))

NUFORC Note:

Date is approximate. PD

Posted 2003-03-21