NUFORC Sighting 179255

Occurred: 2023-10-14 04:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2023-11-03 23:18 Pacific
Duration: 10 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Austin, TX, USA
Location details: 4th floor of parking garage (roof)

Shape: Unknown
Color: Black (with golden l
Estimated Size: 30 feet long
Viewed From: Land
Direction from Viewer: North
Angle of Elevation: 26
Closest Distance: 330 feet
Estimated Speed: 10mph
Characteristics: Lights on object

Perfectly silent craft drifts to the east, bright light seen, object came to a standstill several times

Mid-October (exact date forgotten)

At around 4:00 AM I was running laps on the fourth floor of the parking garage at Park University in Austin, Texas, located on Morado Cir.

This part of Austin has very dense old-growth tree cover, and is hilly, so being on top of the garage gives a very clear view of the sky that you wouldn't otherwise get on the ground.

Some time around 4:00 AM I noticed a bright golden light in the sky, to the northwest. It looked similar to the lights that you see on large commercial aircraft, i.e. Boeing 747 or larger. I initially paid it no mind. But after 5 minutes had passed, I stopped to look at it.

Almost as soon as I began taking a closer look, the light began to move to the east, and it also came closer toward me. It was moving unusually slow, and several times, it quickly stopped and remained in place, or even descended vertically, for several seconds.

As it got within about 300 feet of me, at an altitude of maybe 400 feet, I saw what seemed to be a long, thick, vertical "cylinder", seemingly in front of the light. The cylinder seemed to be about 30 feet long, but I have no training to discern an object's size at that distance. The cylinder was shadowy and difficult to see or describe. I think it had horizontal protuberances, similar to a dilole antenna.

Whatever it was, I'm confident this was not a conventional aircraft. I also don't believe it was a drone. There was no wind that day and it was very quiet. I heard no noise. I stood there perplexed as I watched this strange combination of a brilliant golden light and an obscure vertical cylinder drifting over my neighborhood. It passed between the parking garage and nearby Village Oaks apartments.

This was definitely unsettling to watch. The way the object could stop suddenly, descend suddenly, and just as quickly continue drifting didn't seem like anything a normal aircraft could do. And there was absolutely no sound even after it got ahead of me, as I would expect from a jet aircraft.

Several days before this, perhaps a quarter of a mile from the parking garage, I saw strange moving lights in a heavily wooded valley, along with unusual helicopter activity farther away. This was around 12:00 AM. As far as I am aware there were no search and rescue operations, manhunts or chases going on around that time. There is not a significant homeless population in this part of Austin and there's very little crime, so I don't think this was a coincidental homeless encampment or fleeing suspect. Whatever it was, it was uncanny. The lights were small, golden-orange, and spaced about 20 feet away from eachother and seemed to drift around but never got close enough for me to identify them.

Posted 2023-12-09