NUFORC Sighting 67820

Occurred: 1991-06-30 14:30 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2009-01-02 20:57 Pacific
Duration: 15minutes
No of observers: 6

Location: Whitefish, MT, USA

Shape: Disk

Flying Saucer from north (Canada) descends on Whitefish, Montana, hovers silently, gone like a bullet.

First of all, I was a skeptic’s skeptic. My father and three relatives were on their way to a lodge meeting one Monday evening in 1947, near Lewistown, Montana. Dad was excited as could be the next day relating how they saw the lights of the "flying saucer" (I’d never heard the term UFO at that time.) and they pulled the car into an approach, shut it off and all got out to observe the gyrations these lights were performing, close by--and without a sound.

I was thoroughly embarrassed for Dad, his two brothers and nephew, and didn’t relate the incident to ANYONE. That is until some years later, when strange things were happening near Great Falls, when a TV newsman caught several UFOs circling around Great Falls; and later incidents at Minuteman Missile sights in central Montana.

I believe the year was 1990 or 1991. I don’t remember but it likely late spring to early summertime. I went to the "coffee shop" near the viaduct in Whitefish, where I met the retired GNRY workers I enjoyed having coffee with, and listening to their stories of "steam railroad" in years past. I was sitting with three GNRY retirees. I was facing Big Mountain, the local ski resort.

I observed a very shiny (shinier than chrome) "airplane" coming into sight above Big Mountain, approximately 15 miles from where we sat. (I used to have a friend who owned an old 140 Cessna aircraft, which he used to polish and buff.) Since it was confusing to me, I mentioned to the three others at our booth, "I see a UFO flying toward Whitefish." I was kind of kidding, but it soon proved quite true. By this time it was probably about 5 miles? We watched the "airplane" descending and the closer it got, it was obvious at the slow cautious speed it traveled, that it was no "Cessna aircraft," but rather a very thin disk. (It appeared as though one took two "cymbals" and placed one atop the other, it would replicate the shape we were seeing. There was slightly more "cabin" underneath than on top.) I would estimate the width of the total craft to be 75’ in width.

I went to the kitchen and told the owner and his wife we were observing a UFO nearing Whitefish. The 6 of us went outside to watch this situation. The UFO came to a stop about ¾ of a mile from us, hovering above (best guess?) Wisconsin Avenue or the east edge of Whitefish Lake when it began hovering about 250-300 feet above the ground. We observed it in a noiseless, standstill hover for approximately 5 minutes. Then it took off in a northeast direction, although approximately straight up. I’d estimate it was out of Earth’s atmosphere in less than five seconds.

Sadly the three GNRY retirees have passed away. The restaurant owner and his ex-wife are still living. We discuss that day every time I see him. The incident was reported in the main Kalispell newspaper the next day on the front page.

Now that I’m retired, I plan to go to the Montana Historical Society and go through those years of newspapers on videotape and try to find that story for my own satisfaction; now that I have to defend my status as a former skeptic.

NUFORC Note:

Source of report indicates that the date of the incident is approximate. PD

Posted 2009-01-10