NUFORC Sighting 82901

Occurred: 1986-07-30 16:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2011-08-02 18:27 Pacific
Duration: 3-4 minutes
No of observers: 6

Location: Austin, TX, USA

Shape: Oval


In broad daylight almost cloudless afternoon a large fat oval "craft" instantly appeared and disappeared from less than 1000 ft from my

I am reporting this UFO sighting 25 years later because of 2 major points which I feel makes this sighting quite unique.  My wife and I witnessed the brief 3-4 min event from arrival to departure in perfect daylight weather.

In addition, there was also another anomaly that preceded the main object which I feel was associated with it, although I cannot precisely place the 2 together.  These two facets make this a significant, extraordinary UFO sighting. 

Austin Tx 1986, Sunday afternoon between 4-5pm.

We had just returned from buying groceries to cook on my new outdoor grill. So I was outside on my 2nd story apt deck at Sterling Village sitting down watching the fire and looking out due west at the beautiful bright blue sky, almost no clouds, just perfect central Texas sky.

Then to my left I see something dark in the sky at quite a distance in the SE direction that I assumed was a flock of birds. I turned to look directly at the "flock" and observed peculiar spazzy "wing" movement, sort of like cartoon bats, not at all bird-like. So the "flock" began to get bigger, not closer, and within a few seconds it became clear that it was not birds but, LARGE crooked zig-zagging dark LINES that were gradually spreading outward from a previously small central point, like a cracked windshield, only this was moving, vibrating. I also could not quite determine just how far away these lines were since I had never seen anything like this before, but my guess would be several miles, at least 20 or so, about as far as the eye could see fairly clear. I guess to describe it, it looked as if a sky-blue canvas was being ripped or torn at from the opposite side from me, with darkness behind it.

As I recall at this time I could not really think as to what I was seeing; I mean my thoughts just stopped, like an overloaded PC "freezing-up". Now I looked around and saw nothing else in the air but a few sparsely thin wispy clouds. No birds, no planes, balloons, blimps, helicopters, nothing but still quiet blue sky. As I looked back at the object(s?) only moments later, it was quite larger now, having at least tripled in size and branching out in long, spider-like appendages within a few seconds time. It was also vibrating much faster and I was just dumbfounded staring awestruck. I quite literally went blank for lack of any frame with which to reference what I was witnessing. NOTE: You must understand that I DO realize this description sounds incredibly absurd, I honestly do. I am only describing what this event looked like. Please hear me out. This is not a hoax. 

At this point I was really at a loss for even thoughts as to what this was, and by now I was getting nervous so I again glanced toward the western horizon, bright orange sun lighting up everything and as I turned to look back at the dark lines, a grayish blur INSTANTLY appeared in front of me maybe 800 to 1000 feet to my left at the lowest cloud level. I stopped to look at it for a moment and almost instantly it changed in appearance and became a defined object, that is to say the surface and edges came into focus and the grayish blur changed  into a solid 3 dimensional object.

The object was a grey blur for only about 2 seconds but the transition from fuzzy-blur to definite solid object happened instantly. I then remembered the "dark lines" in the sky and immediately after this grey object appeared solid I quickly glanced back at the sky toward the south east where the "dark lines" had been only to find they were completely gone. No visible trace remained of that first anom! alous sighting at all. As large and branching as it had become within less than half a minutes time it disappeared within a few seconds. But I now had this other thing to look at.

At first it resembled a huge ballon-like blimp from a parade float or something being that it was smooth. No parades in town today. I thought it might have been hiding behind a cloud. A quick scan of the skies revealed no clouds even close to being large enough to have been able to conceal the object. Within a few seconds, maybe 10 or so, I observed it did not have wings, jets, propellors, windows, lights, markings, nothing I could identify it with. It was a glossy smooth blueish-dark brown-gray color, similar to that of the submarines I've seen on TV. It also did not make any movement at all; none at all, like a huge dark semi-flattened jellybean perched upon a ledge it just sat there totally silent and motionless, slightly tilted downward towards my general direction.  Finally about this time I suddenly felt anxious as I finally realized this was not like anything I have ever seen in the sky (or anywhere for that matter). I was still reeling from what I had been watching prior to this object and I was VERY uneasy now. Austin at that time had Bergstrom AFB and I had seen at another time huge military cargo carrier jets circle the city to land at the AFB. This object could have held inside of it at least a couple of those big planes. Cliche as it sounds, easily this object was at least as big as a football field. Easily.

At this moment I called to my wife who was inside cutting up the chicken to grill. She told me to wait she was busy and I anxiously yelled for her to come outside right now! She ran out looking down at the grill (she later said she thought I had burned myself lighting the fire, by the way I was yelling) and I bolted up out of my chair, grabbed her by the shoulders and pointed her towards the object in the sky and ranted, "Do you see that?! DO YOU!?! Huh!? Answer Me! What is it?" She was not excited like me. She was calm and speechless, literally at a loss for words. I kept asking her if she could see it, what was it? and she finally whispered "I don't know". We then heard a man yelling at us from the parking lot by our apartment. "Do You See It?!", he asked me. Yea I see it! Do you?!, I responded.. YEA! WHAT IS It?! He yelled at me and I yelled back I Don't know!!! (In hindsight I thought it silly that I asked if he saw it too when he obviously had since he asked me first)

Now this guy was behaving even more excited than I was, he was jumping around and waving his arms, really losing it. I guess looking for other people but nobody was around close by. We then heard some yelling in the adjacent shopping center parking lot where several people were pointing in the air towards the thing and jumping and yelling. My wife and I just looked at it quietly. I suggested we study it in detail. (I have a bit more to say with regards to a more detailed description of the incident, also regarding my phone call to Bergstrom AFB; they denied having any planes flying in the area).

NOTE: It is the two specific moments regarding the objects arrival and departure that completely distinguish this thing from anything then or now that I can think to compare it to. I cannot emphasize how quickly this thing simply zipped into view, then zipped away silently, instantly, no sound, no light. As my wife describes it, "Just POOF! Gone". Sorry but i really have to use another cliche: If you had blinked your eyes you would miss it.

A bustling city all around and had you not looked up in the sky you would not know it was there. I saw so many cars pass by on N.Lamar blvd, totally oblivious to this huge thing hanging less than 1000 feet above them. Approximate location was just north of 183/research, between N. Lamar & Burnet Rd.

Would gladly discuss more detail in reference to this sighting since we had a perfect viewing in broad daylight. I am old enough to recall as a youngster ( when kids used to play outside ) and quite often military jets from the nearby AFB would fly low and break the sound barrier. We always looked around to find the jet.   At no time during this sighting did I hear any sound at all from either the craft which was WAY larger than any jet I've ever seen; nor was there any sound from the anomalous object that appeared before it. I have seen the Goodyear blimp from at least 3 times the distance further than this object and I could still hear it's engine.

I've said more than you wanted to hear in this text I'm sure but as you might guess, this event forever changed my view on many things in this life. Up until this 1986 sighting i had little interest in these things. I felt the Star Trek-Star Wars phenom had run its course. Prior to this sighting and for 20 years afterwards I had virtually no interest in the ufo phenom. My interest in UFOs has sprung up only in the last few years really after finding so much interest on the www.  

Again, I am sharing this with you for the reasons I stated earlier. I am also hoping to meet anyone who may have seen this UFO. I counted at least 5 people other than my wife and I whom I personally observed watching the object. I would be especially surprised to find anyone else who witness the "lines in the sky" anomaly as well. 

My wife and I are both licensed healthcare professionals and we both have at least 15 more good years of service to mankind before retirement. I do not wish to discredit our reputations as they are in excellent standing in our respective specialty areas. As I hope you can understand, I do not wish to openly reveal our identities.  

My wife especially is in disagreement about discussing this event as she currently holds supervisory positions in and out of the hospital setting. She dislikes talking about this even with me bec ause "no one is going to believe it and even if they did, nothing will become of it so just give up on it".

So I am sharing this with you all without her involvement. I hope you understand our position. However, I do hope to get at least one response from you soon.

Thank You.  




NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate. PD


Posted 2011-08-07

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