Occurred: 1978-08-15 23:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 1998-12-27 00:00 Pacific
Duration: several seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Pendleton/Athena (between), OR, USA

Shape: Light


Tourquois-green fireball drop straight down from a cloud layer and hover a few seconds. Next made a bee line to our car, then shot straight up. Awesome color as it shot skyward.

I heard Peter Davenport on Art Bell mention that he would like people to report their UFO sightings, even if they are in the distant past. My incident occurred in the summer of 1978, sometime in August. My father was a pilot on many occassions flew the family to California to visit relatives. We returned to the Pendleton airport and were on the way home when the indident occurred. It happened approximately half way between Pendleton and Athena in the state of Oregon. I was only eight at the time, and as a child could never sleep in the car. The car we owned at the time was an Audi, which had a shelf-like dash behind the rear seat. I often used the shelf as a rest as I looked out of the rear window to view what we had passed. That night was no different, and I rested my elbows on the shelf and looked out the window. The sky was overcast, as evident by the lights Pendleton reflecting off the low clouds, but the ceiling was relatively high due to the fact that the red warning light was visible on a tower located on Cabbage Hill. The object in question was seen soon after turning around in the back seat to look rearward. Before the object was actually seen, a pulsating glow was first observed through the clouds that appeared greenish in color. A few seconds after noticing the change in cloud color a turquoise-green ball of light appeared as it dropped from the cloud ceiling. It hovered exactly half the distance between the cloud ceiling and the ground, just to the left of the towers on Cabbage Hill. The object emitted enough light to reveal the trees and grasses around it. The object remained hovering for several more seconds, and the best way to describe its action was as if it was looking for something. Our car was the only car on the road for as far as the eye can see, and it didn't take long for the object to pick something out. In a flash the object was streaking directly toward us, and it took no more than two or three seconds to traverse the distance that seperated us from it. I was unable issue a warning partly because I was frightened and partly due to the rapidity of the entire event. I thought that the object was going to hit us, when it shot straight up and disappeared into the clouds. I feel that it is important to emphasize that the at no time that the object moved was there any type of arcing trajectory or slow graceful movements. All movement and change in direction was rapid, quick, and at angles I know could not be made by conventional aircraft. When the object shot straight up into the sky the entire interior of the car and the surrounding area turned a brilliant turquoise colored, no other color could be seen. It was as if everything had faded to turquoise. Everyone else in the car was asleep, except for my father who was driving, and did not witness the incident. My father only withnessed the aftermath of the object's departure as the world around us turned that brilliant color. Events immediately after the sighting is fuzzy, and I am not sure if my father pulled over, or continued to drive, but I then told him what I saw. sometime later he contacted one of his buddies in the Airforce that had some knowledge of certain aircraft and asked him if he knew of any experimental aircraft that looked like, and could move like the object I had described; he said no. Rumor has it that the object harrassed a nearby airplane and then was seen near Mcnary dam on the Columbia river. Although the event lasted no more than ten seconds, the memory and detail is embedded in my brain as if it happened yesterday. I know that this event happened quite a long time ago, but I figure that it is better late then never when reporting the incident. I'm sure your organization can use this information to establish a timeline regarding this type of object. I didn't report this incident not because I was afraid of being branded a kook or a weirdo, but rather because it happened so long ago. I am also aware that many of the sightings are associated with natural or man made aircraft. This object was in no way, shape, or form a conventional aircraft. I have also been told that what I had seen was St. Elmo's Fire or ball lightening. I've seen St. Elmo's Fire associated with the numerous types of aircraft I have flown in while in the army, and I have seen the beautifully graceful movements of ball lightening while in Panama, again while in the army. There is no way that the actions and speed of the object that I saw could be described by either of these types of natural phenomenon. I thank you for your time and appolagize for the age of this report.

Posted 1999-02-16

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