NUFORC Sighting 20389

Occurred: 2001-11-14 05:35 Local
Reported: 2001-11-14 16:02 Pacific
Duration: 2 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Memphis, TN, USA

Shape: Triangle
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

Second sighting from the same general ground location, though not in the same location in the sky.

I had previously reported spotting a black object flying very low and very fast over Winchester Road after dawn on 11/02/01. I had absolutely no expectation of seeing another unusual object in the sky, and yet that is precisely what occurred this morning.

My account has two parts, so please bear with me.

Part I: Leaving for work at 5:28 a.m., I stepped into my garage and hit the button to lift the door. (I looked at the digital clock just before I stepped out.) Moving alongside my car after the door was up, I saw the newspaper in our driveway and decided to pick it up before I left. Before I made it to the driveway, however, a very definite and very well-defined and lengthy shadow flitted across the driveway and our front lawn. There was absolutely no sound associated with the passing of this shadow. I'm not the nervous type, but the shadow startled me so that I jumped into my car instead of going out to pick up the paper. I'd never seen anything like this before. It was still quite dark, but a street light illuminates our entire yard to a certain extent. My first impression was that something huge had flown beneath the street light and cast the shadow. This explanation was quickly discarded due to the physical impossibility of such an event, but I was puzzled by what I saw. It appeared that our cat had been startled as well by the passing shadow because she ducked for cover under a hedge.

Part II: Seven minutes later. It is now 5:35 a.m., an hour before sunrise, and I am traveling east on Winchester Road. There is almost no traffic. The sky is mostly clear. It's 48 degrees, and the winds are calm. A few stars are visible, even though there are city lights nearby. I am going to work early to complete a project. I've put all thoughts of the "shadow" behind me as I mentally prepare for the day ahead.

The usual Fed Ex jets are flying past on their west-to-east flight paths, leaving Memphis International Airport, and I pay them little attention. However, as I passed the Nike plant on my left, I noticed a "plane" that seemed much lower in the sky than normal for this part of the landing and take-off pattern. It definitely caught my attention. It appeared to be hovering in place at a spot just east of the Nike plant on the north side of Winchester Road. This area is about five miles away from my home. I slowed down and came almost to a stop to get a better look at the "plane." It was my perception that it was not moving at all. As I studied it, I realized that there was no strobe light on it. It also did not cast its lights ahead of it, as you would normally expect to see the lights of a jet beamed straight ahead. Instead there were three white lights aimed downward. It was then that I perceived that I was looking at a triangular-shaped craft with three bright white lights, one at each corner, and a single red light in the middle of the underside of the craft.

The craft was approximately the size of a fifty-cent piece held at arm's length. If I had to guess, I would estimate that it was about a quarter to a half-mile away from me, hovering in place. It exhibited no motion whatsoever, and from my perspective, seemed to be hovering over an empty field. I got quite a good look at it for a period of time I would estimate as long as two minutes.(I regret not having the presence of mind to roll down my window and listen for any sounds. I was too surprised by what I was seeing.) I continued heading slowly eastward until I lost sight of the object as I passed some trees. It was then that I resolved to make a quick U-turn and go back and get another look. I found a place about two blocks farther on to turn around, and I raced back to look at the object again. There was no trace of it whatsoever! I searched the sky for several minutes in vain. The object had quite simply vanished.

What I saw was very definitly NOT a star. It was not Venus or Jupiter. I know what the planets look like when they rise in the east. This object was in the northern sky as I faced east. The object was NOT a light on top of a cell phone tower or a utility tower. (I checked on the way home, and there are no towers of any kind in the vicinity of my sighting.) It was also very definitely NOT one of the Fed Ex jets. I had an opportunity to compare the object to the jets flying past in the background, and they were very different. This craft was lower than the jets, and the lights appeared to be of a different intensity. I have no explanation for what I saw, but I decided to give as detailed an account as possible so that others in the Memphis area can keep an eye out for such an object in the sky. It might possibly be one of our own aircraft, keeping watch over the skys in this area during this troubled time. If so, it seems to be a remarkable craft indeed.

Of course, I have no way of knowing if the shadow flitting across my lawn was related in any way to the object I spotted a few minutes later in the sky. When I got home this evening, I saw that a bright light traveling behind one of the tall trees near our driveway could have produced such a moving shadow. The light would have had to have had much greater candle power than the street light, however. I've lived in this home for over a decade and have never witnessed such a phenomenon before.

Posted 2001-11-20

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