NUFORC Sighting 35906

Occurred: 2004-03-17 20:28 Local
Reported: 2004-03-30 02:05 Pacific
Duration: 5 minutes
No of observers: 3

Location: Yakima, WA, USA

Shape: Triangle
Characteristics: Lights on object, Changed Color, Electrical or magnetic effects

St. Paddy's Day UFOs over Yakima, Washington

I first saw them while sitting in the car with my mother in the driveway. I happened to glance NW of my position and pointed at three large, bright lights in the sky. They seemed to be motionless, and almost looked like airplanes, but were too close together and in a triangular shape.

My mom ran inside the house to get my digital camera while I stared at them to see if they were moving, but they appeared to be either at a stand-still or moving directly towards me. My brother came outside and looked at them and said they were probably airplanes, but I mentioned that they made absolutely no sound at all, and were close enough that they should have been rather noisy. He shrugged, watched for a second and walked back inside. I took four pictures of the lights, but only 3 showed anything other than colored pixels.

After the first flash of the camera, the objects began to move slowly southward, toward Ahtanum Ridge. There was a large, distinctly triangular object in front, moving extremely slowly, and a smaller craft following closely behind it, blinking red, white and blue. If it had made noise, or moved in a different direction, it could have easily been an airplane. But it didn't, and as far as I'm concerned, it wasn't. There was a third one, the same size as the one in the front, following a little farther behind the smaller craft in the center. They were all traveling exactly the same speed, which was also why I decided they weren't airplanes. When you live in the same place since you were born, you know the air traffic and where it moves. Airplanes don't fly over Ahtanum ridge unless there's an emergency or touch-and-go training.

Another reason I don't believe they were airplanes is because of their speed. All the planes I see, flying that closely (I couldn't give an accurate estimate as to the distance between myself and the three craft.) would make at least a tiny bit of noise. Considering the size of the outer two objects, unless they were stealth bombers, they would make quite a bit of noise. The smaller one, if it hadn't have been following the others, I would have easily dismissed it as an airplane at a much farther distance.

Then they turned left at a slight curve and vanished over the ridge, heading towards Wapato, Washington.

Mom and I got back into the car and headed north, and upon reaching the stop sign at a T-intersection, heard a car alarm sounding, coming from the left towards the fire station. All of the lights at the fire station were on, as well. The only reason the car alarm took us by surprise is because we live in the boonies and I had no idea anyone out here even had a car alarm. If they did, we've never heard it before and we've lived here for 18 years.

The reason I'm not attaching the pictures I took is because my mother sent them already in a previous report. She didn't know I had filled one out the night it happened, so she sent her own description of the events.

Posted 2004-04-09