NUFORC Sighting 38969

Occurred: 2004-08-19 17:00 Local
Reported: 2004-08-30 12:14 Pacific
Duration: >=4 hrs
No of observers: 8

Location: St. Paul, MN, USA

Shape: Orb


White circular object observed 2.5 handspans above horizon for 4+ hours by 8 people in St. Paul, MN.

Some friends and I were all at a backyard barbeque and one of the guys there asked if I had seen the UFO yet. I was puzzled and he explained that on WCCO they had reported a white floating thing that hadn't moved for hours. We all went outside and watched it for a good for hours while we cooked up our food. The neighbors in the next door yard had a pair of 7x35 binoculars they were using to look at the object and let us take a look. I saw what appeared to be a pale white orb that was a bit stretched out on the top side. Like a blunted teardrop, kind of.

The object appeared to be stationary but during the course of our BBQ, it appeared to have moved from 12 o'clock to about 10 o'clock at a uniform height of 2.5 handspans (arms extended) above the horizon. A dime held at arms length completely obscured the object. I believe that even a popcorn kernel held at arm's length would have covered it. 3 of the 8 of us had about 3 beers apiece over the course of the 4 hours.

As to our credibility, we are all of sound mind. I am a military veteran, one of the guys there is a Mennonite/Quaker type guy, one lady is a research biologist, and another works in a health diagnostic lab. The remainder were college students. Everyone there was of a rational mindset.

In summary -- 8 of us saw something in the sky that we can't quite explain. The idea of a balloon was (forgive the pun) floated but the object was far too stationary for that to be true. Also, it should be noted that as the sun set, the object, suspended above the western horizon, remained consistently luminous -- a large white "circloid" with no noticable shading.

To be honest, we got bored with it after a while and ceased to pay attention to it. Prior to this we noted it had been drifting relative to the trees. Left to right, facing west. When we wondered about it's position around 2100 hours, we weren't able to find it.



((ADDENDUM FROM WITNESS))

Peter-

Yeah, it was Aug 19...the day everyone around here was seeing it. Sorry about that, I don't usually keep track of the date. It was all over the radio, TV...and then interest just disappeared. Odd, you'd think that folks would be interested in knowing what the heck was just floating stationary for such a long period of time. Most folks just dismissed it with "weather balloon". It might have been but it certainly didn't exhibit balloon like properties, chiefly that whole "not moving" thing.

Let me know if you learn any more about the flying object that has, to date, been unidentified.

Cheers! ((name deleted))

((END ADDENDUM))

NUFORC Note:

We presume the date indicated above is correct, but a similar event occurred near the Twin Cities on August 19. We will contact the witness for clarification. Several news outlets reported the incident, and it remains unexplained, according to two of those media, as of September 8, 2004. PD


Posted 2004-09-01

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