NUFORC Sighting 18918

Occurred: 2001-07-13 17:30 Local
Reported: 2001-08-10 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 45 seconds
No of observers: 2

Location: Irrigon, OR, USA

Shape: Cigar
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

Very Large cigar/cone shaped object witnessed over Columbia River.

On 7/13/01 at 1730 hrs my wife and I were outside sitting in our swing when a very big and silent cigar shaped craft (about twice the length and diameter of a 747 with a cone nose and round stern...which was dark in color as opposed the the grayish-white overall appearance of the craft) passed over the trees about 500 feet altitude behind our mobile home and headed NE across the Columbia river at a fairly high rate of speed (600 to 800 Knots). My wife spotted the object first and, curiously, I had seen the same object a week before except it was about 5000 feet altitude and a mile off to the south headed SSE. More baffling is that in August of '98 when my daughter (age 12 at the time) and I were camping at Cougar Reservoir (West slope of the Oregon Cascades, roughly central Oregan) she pointed out the very same type object as it passed over our campground at about 100 knots and 200 feet altitude. She was old enough to know it was a craft not from this Earth and got really scared and began to cry, thinking it was going to come back. A strange side to this report is that as the object passed overhead an Oregon State trooper came roaring into the campground and the overlook across the reservoir. He got out of his patrol car and looked up in the sky toward the object then got back in his car and hauled butt out of the campground. NOTE: I am a Vietnam Vet...US Marines...and have extensive knowledge of aircraft. NOTE: My wife is a four-year Air Force veteran and also has extensive knowledge of aircraft. We consider ourselves normal, everyday people. We don't subscribe to UFO literature and are generally not interested in the subject...although...in my 54 years on this planet I've seen enough strange things in the sky that make you wonder if we're not alone. NOTE: The sighting my wife and I had is about 173 miles east of Portland, Oregon on the south bank---Oregon side of the Columbia river.

Posted 2001-08-12