NUFORC Sighting 08762

Occurred: 1998-12-15 10:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 1999-08-21 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 5 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Rocky Point/Hampstead (Rural area outside of), NC, USA

Shape: Sphere
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

Hunter views UFO and is later buzzed by two military aircraft.

It was a cold, clear morning sometime in December of 1998. I had been out hunting from a tree stand on my in-law's private land, which is several hundred acres within the Holly Ridge swamplands, off of highway 210. My tree stand was about 75 to 100 feet high with a clear view in all directions. The entire time I observed numerous commerical or military aircraft flying at high altitudes (out of hearing range), leaving the usual contrails over the entire sky (there is a military base about an hour from my position). I thought nothing of it at the time, other than I had never seen so many contrails in that area before. At approximately 11:00 am, I descended from my tree stand and started walking back to my truck, which is about a 20 minute walk. At one point I heard a jet flying high above me, and I looked up to see a small, white jet moving north-west and leaving a contrail. A bright metallic object then caught my eye, which was close to where the jet had just passed, except it seemed a much lower altitude than the jet itself. The chrome object was stationary, was directly above me, and made no noise and left no contrail, which is probably why it had caught my attention considering everything else I was seeing left a trail of some sort. It seemed like the shape of an egg or sphere. I stood there staring at it for about a minute, when it then proceeded to move slowly in the opposite direction from where the jet was heading. I had to back up a bit to continue watching as it was disappearing behind some trees. After another minute or two of observation, the object simply vanished. I watched for several more minutes and did not see it again. I then proceeded to my truck and drove home. The following may or may not be related to my sighting, but it is certainly worth mentioning. As my hunt was unsuccessful, the next day I returned to the same location. This time it was a cloudy, wet day. At approximately 9:00am, I heard several jet engines approaching from behind my position in the tree stand. Keep in mind that my stand is very high, as I am sitting above the tops of most of the other trees in my vision. I looked to my left and observed two military F16 or F15 (?) class fighter jets flying at a low altitude. As they passed, I picked up my binoculars and viewed them for a closer look. They were moving at a very rapid speed and quite low to the ground, and I think they were using their afterburners, as I could see the flame emitting from the engines. As they passed my position, they seemed to slow down and the afterburners were shut off. A short moment later they began maneuvering back into my direction, this time seemingly heading right for me, at a much slower speed. I was awestruck when they headed right for me at an incredibly low altitude. As they approached my position, the noise from the jet engines was almost painfully loud. One of the jets broke left and the other right from where I was sitting. They literally buzzed my tree stand from both sides, so close that I could easily see the pilots in the aircraft. They must have been no more than 75 yards on either side of me and just a little bit above the tree tops. The one on my right banked as it passed me, showing me a clear view of the plane's underbelly. When I first described this incident to me family, I remember mentioning that they were so close that I could see the bolts holding the jet together. After they buzzed me they turned around again and proceeded in the direction they were originally heading before they decided to freak the hell out of me. Shortly thereafter I got back to my truck and went home. I believe that was the last time I hunted on that land since it was the end of the season, and have since moved out of the a! rea.

NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that date of the incident is approximate. PD

Posted 1999-08-30