NUFORC Sighting 42212

Occurred: 1982-11-20 00:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2005-02-24 19:46 Pacific
Duration: one minute
No of observers: 2

Location: Surfside, FL, USA

Shape: Diamond
Characteristics: Lights on object, Electrical or magnetic effects

A tumbling football shaped UFO with triangle windows of equal size with a different soft pastel colored light glowing in each window.

Surfside, TX in November 1982, my friend and I were in our early twenties. We just arrived about 12 miles up the beach from the beach entrance to camp at around midnight so we could meet friends in the morning at our favorite spot and avoid morning beach traffic from Houston where we lived at the time.

A flashing light was in the rear view mirror just as we parked. The area behind us was swamp so it couldn't be a land vehicle that was approaching us and it seemed to be blinking at that distance. I scrambled for my camera when it became clear that it was something tumbling toward us but I only had daytime 100 ASA film in my 35mm Nikon.

As I looked up from the van, I saw what was an oblong, still silent craft covered entirely with triangular windows and thin black frames around them as it slowly tumbled with no visable means of propulsion or wings, it never made a sound and always maintained the same distance from the ground. It was about two telephone poles off the ground and stood about two telephone polls in height which was easy to determine since there were telephone poles to compare to.

Roughly football shaped, each window was back lit with a different soft pastel color. As it came over the power lines nearly directly above us it took a sharp 90 degree turn, tumbling only in the direction it was traveling and followed the power lines up the beach northward and disappeared into the distance. It was literally a stones throw from me.

We scrambled out to see what would happen next and nothing further took place. BUT! The next morning when it was about to become noon after our friends arrived, we were to go to 7-11. I joked about the UFO sucking the battery dry when the van wouldn't start. My friend said there was a flashlight with new batteries in the glove box and sure enough the flash light batteries were drained too! Really creeped us out but it was awesome at the same time.

Over the years I've shared my experience with friends and received awe, and at times skepticism, but it's always been important to me to come forward. One friend who was a UFO buff said that my description only represented about ten percent of all sightings he had read about and that never had anyone been that close to this particular type of craft. Cigar and saucer shapes were far more common.

I still have a sketch of it I made the following day after I returned home. I could say that is was a religious experience for me.

Posted 2005-05-11

© 2023 National UFO Reporting Center. All rights reserved. Use or reproduction within any application without written consent is prohibited.