NUFORC Sighting 62452

Occurred: 2001-09-28 21:30 Local
Reported: 2008-03-30 22:35 Pacific
Duration: 30 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Fulton County (southern location in), GA, USA

Shape: Rectangle

Off-Duty Police Officer Observes White Rectangular Light In Home

This is a copy of the MUFON CMS narrative regarding the investigation of this unusual case by MUFON of Georgia personnel.

On 15Feb02, this SD was contacted by a witness known to the writer. He stated that an incident had occurred the previous year in his home and that he had been trying to determine exactly what it involved, but to no avail.

In response to his request, an on-site inspection, an interview and an investigation was began on 11March02.

The witness is a 20+ year veteran police officer employed by a major South Fulton County police agency and has been professionally known to this writer for at least 15 years. The witness is a former nuclear submariner for the U.S. Navy with all of the attendant training, qualifications, clearances and certifications. After his naval service, the witness served as a Georgia State Trooper until he decided on municipal police work in order to be able to reside and work in one particular place i.e. no moving around in a far flung region of the state. This witness spent many years of his municipal career in a particularly dangerous aspect of law enforcement. His hobbies include traveling the USA with his wife to visit our numerous national parks and photographing other scenic outdoor resorts and vistas, and working with his PC. The witness lives in a nice middle class neighborhood a few minutes drive south of Hartsfield International Airport. During the years of this writer's professional association with the witness, he was observed under pressure and in emergency situations on many occasions. The witness was never known to over-react, loose his professional demeanor or demonstrate any type of improper conduct when dealing with the public or criminal suspects who were often violent.

The event site is his home, a well-kept split (tri) level, 3 bedroom house with a substantial wire fenced backyard, the home facing west on a generally N-S suburban street. The rear fencing is extensive, with the backyard enclosed by four foot wire fence, with numerous wire sub-fencing within in order to make a dog run, and divide off areas for plants and patio-type yard fixtures. Numerous large boulders outcrop the soil in the rear, and this is evident in other nearby yards.

The interview was conducted on 11March02 in the witness' living room. He was calm and related the experience in a clear and concise manner.

He stated that on 28Sept01, between 9:30 and 10:00PM, he had turned in and was going to sleep as he had to work the next day. He and his wife sleep in separate bedrooms due to their sometime conflicting work schedules, furthermore that she was downstairs watching TV. Their cat was laying on the foot of the bed as is normal. He heard the cat make a growling sound, which was unusual, so he rolled over to see what that was all about. He then observed a (very) white in color rectangular light hovering over his bed, but a few feet up towards the ceiling and ceiling fan (fan was not in operation). Witness indicated this light put him to mind of a shoebox-top in shape, perhaps 6"x12", and appeared like a silent white window just hanging there above the bed, but not giving off any light that would illuminate the room.

He sat up and reached out to touch it, but it moved away slightly, but maintaining a general position of about 1/2 of the way between the bed and ceiling. He continued to watch it, then reached over to turn on the night table lamp immediately next to the bed (see photos), but could not find it, as if the table and lamp were gone. He then reached out for the chest of drawers and did not feel that either. After a bit of reaching around, the lamp was found and turned on. The rectangular light promptly vanished. Witness said it seemed like there was absolutely nothing in the room during the few moments he was groping around for the lamp, and this was quite disconcerting.

(Sidebar: In previous months this officer had been working at night and sleeping in the daytime, so he had covered every square inch of each bedroom window with tin foil so he could day-sleep in total darkness. This window covering was left completely intact when he had changed shifts and remained so on the night of this event. He double checked this, thinking that perhaps errant light was leaking from an outside source, but his coverings were still intact i.e. no leaking light incoming).

Once the lamp was on and the rectangle had vanished, he got up and went downstairs and related the experience to his wife, and they talked for about 30 minutes. He then returned to bed and after turning out the light, the white rectangle made a reappearance in the same location. Witness then sat up and was able on this occasion to stick his finger through the light, learning that it had no heat, no apparent depth, only height and width. He then moved his hand around the light to double check for an outside light leak, and discovering none, put his finger into the light again. At that point the light seemed to break into "a million small specks" and quickly vanished and did not return. He added that during the time of the event, he was not ill, had not been taking medication of any sort and was in as generally good health as a moderate smoker could be. He did note that within a few days of this occurrence, he had 3 fluorescent lights to burn out on the same day and thought this to be unusual. No other unusual electrical problems had been noted in the home.

During additional conversation, the witness said his only contact with anything odd, or seemingly anomalous, was during some photo taking in an underground cave in New Mexico. When their photos were developed, they noticed some floating semi-transparent 'orbs' on the photos. We discussed the fact that some researchers, including our paranormal associates in Georgia, had determined these 'orbs' most likely were caused by particles of dust, debris, pollen, or moisture floating in close proximity to the camera and were out of focus, then highly illuminated by the flash unit. Witness said he'd heard that discussed on TV documentaries. This writer offered up another opinion regarding the fact that some persons were just more 'sensitive' regarding various paranormal phenomena, which seemed to occur in and around them more often than others. The witness has an interest in such matters, and has read extensively in that area.

The witness prepared a sketch of the rectangular light using computer graphics and forwarded recently taken photographs of his home and property . He also completed and signed a MUFON Form #1. This writer took additional photos of the bedroom and it's contents, as well as the yard. These will be electronically added to the CMS Form at a later date. The wife of witness did not observe the above described phenomenon, but in essence recalled the same scenario i.e. being downstairs watching TV, her husband coming down and speaking with her about the matter.

Witness did state that there had been a severe lightning strike to the fence in back on an earlier date some years before. The lightning bolt running through all of the fencing.

ASD Ralph Howard, a professional geologist and Georgia's science officer, was contacted and made aware of this investigation. He scheduled a geological survey of the witness property due to the large amount of rock structure that appears to be just under the surface soil. (See this geology report to be added to the FIs CMS report in the near future).

In checking sources for similar events, this writer reviewed William R. Corliss' 'Remarkable Luminous Phenomena In Nature-Catalog of Geophysical Anomalies'. While his descriptions of some forms of ball lightning, luminous aerial bubbles, and low-level nocturnal lights might be slightly similar to this matter, nothing described therein possesses the perfect geometric rectangular form as illustrated and described by the witness. Of course ball lightning has reportedly been observed to enter an enclosure or dwelling, but it's conduct in doing so is radically different from what was observed in this case, and not geometrically perfect in shape.

While there were no instruments available on the day of this writer's on-scene examination, there would certainly be the possibility of an electro-magnetic field in the vicinity of the bedroom ceiling due to the ceiling fan's electric motor and built-in three bulb lighting fixture, however the fan and light WAS NOT in operation at time of the event. As stated, the witness noticed no abnormal electrical problems in the home except for the previously mentioned burn-out of three fluorescent bulbs in various rooms on the same day, a few days later.

While the witness was in overall good health, the 'Electric Power Research Institute' and 'International Association of Certified Home Inspectors' describe certain health issues sometime associated with EM fields in the home. One being Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity that could manifest in allergy-like conditions, or else a physiological disorder which might include neurological symptoms. The witness did confirm that he also spent a moderate amount of time working with his computers, being something of an amateur computer bug. He described no type of personal condition that would lead one to suspect he suffered from such EM Hypersensitivity.

(Sidebar: Information from the above two professional organizations regarding ceiling fans and other small appliances.......that the EM field RAPIDLY becomes weaker with distance from the source........gaging ceiling fans on a strength scale.....at 1 foot--a rating of 50; at 2 feet--a rating of 6; at 4 feet--a rating of 1. According to this scale, the strength of the EM field does in fact drop off RAPIDLY as the distance is increased).

During the course of this investigation in the early spring of 2002, physicist Dr. Eric Davis of NIDS became aware of this inquiry via our thumbnail posting in Filer's Files. He contacted this writer due to his work in quantum teleportation and researching traversable wormholes in the form of a 'Stargate'. This writer forwarded certain information to Dr. Davis regarding this event and Davis asked that the witness also provide him with an account via the NIDS citizen reporting form. The witness agreed and prepared his account for submission. He had extreme difficulty getting the NIDS data base to accept his account and finally gave up in frustration.

At the time, we did not know that NIDS was downsizing and Bob Bigelow preparing to close down NIDS and pursue aerospace operations. Dr. Davis, along with his colleagues, was released from service at NIDS. Davis then contracted as an adviser to the USAF Research Lab's Advanced Concept Office, later forming his own company 'Warp Drive Metrics'. We were unable to reach Dr. Davis after that, and NIDS was out of business.

This writer has rejected the possibility that the witness experienced a hallucination or entered a spontaneous altered state of consciousness or underwent a mystical episode in the 'Alpha State' that precedes sleep i.e rejected because the phenomenon was observed twice, about 30 minutes between each event.

Based on all of the above, and this investigator's knowledge of the witness' personality, integrity and seriousness, this event is classified as an 'Unknown-Other'.

Tom Sheets, Chief of Police (Retired), State Director-MUFON of Georgia Ralph Howard, P.G., ASD MUFON of Georgia

NUFORC Note:

We express our sincere gratitude to MUFON/Georgia, and to Mr. Tom Sheets, State Director of that organization, for their sharing this case with the National UFO Reporting Center. If others have information about this sighting report, we urge them to contact Mr. Sheets directly at the e-address, . PD

Posted 2008-03-31