NUFORC Sighting 115065

Occurred: 2014-10-26 22:00 Local
Reported: 2014-11-01 20:19 Pacific
Duration: 5-10 minutes


Location: Old Fort/Morganton (between), NC, USA

Shape: Orb
Characteristics: Lights on object, Missing Time

North Carolina: On I-40 east bound 10/26/2014:large white circular orb and lost an unexplainable hour and a half!.

UFO above I-40 Between Old Fort and West Morganton, North Carolina At 10 pm last Sunday night, October 26, 2014 I was driving I-40 east-bound on my way home to Rocky Mount from a weekend checking on my elderly mom in Hendersonville, NC. I left at 6:30 pm, took 26 west in heavy traffic to Asheville by 7PM, and then took 40 east. I came over the Black Mountain Pass and stopped at the Old Fort McDonald’s for a quick break and was back on the road about 8:00 pm. It was dark by then.

I drove east on I-40 for about half an hour, when suddenly I noticed above me and ahead of me the thick edge of a brightly shining luminous white disk hanging in the night sky. It was very high up, but right over the road. It did not move. The dashboard clock said 10 PM! What!???? I was between a steep mountain ridge paralleling the road on my right, to the south, and a hillside to the north. Both sides of the road were heavily wooded as far as I could see in the dark. I could not see any houses or lights anywhere. I looked for a mile marker, but didn’t find one.

The object was amazing. It was as if I Iooked straight on to the side of a doughnut, then lifted it up to about an 11:00 position. I could see the brilliant white light and the thick wide curves of the right and left sides.

I drove under it a few minutes later, with some trepidation. I thought the object might be a reflection of some sort off the windshield, so I opened the sunroof completely, sliding the glass back all the way. Looking up thru the open sunroof, I could see that it was a perfect white circle with three very bright green circular lights under it, quite pretty. They looked exactly like the three circular razors on the head of an electric Norelco razor. Neither the white object nor the three green lights beneath it appeared to spin, move, or rotate, though. There was no sound or vibration. It was not a balloon.

What was it? The atmosphere was clear and not misty or foggy, so there were no perceptible light beams through the air. There was not wind that night. I thought it might be a house on the mountain to my right. However, the mountain was very steep and I could see the darker ridge line lower down to my right against the sky, farther away. There were no lights on the mountain. So the brilliant light was not coming from anything on the mountain itself. It was above me and not over on the mountain. To my left was the west bound lane and heavy woods and trees and another steep slope whose top I could not see for the trees. There were no lights to my left either. Above me, there were no clouds in the sky. The object was against a starry sky.

The moon was up that night, but it was to the south-southwest, according to the moon app on my cell phone, and it was out of my vision range, south of the high mountain ridge to my right somewhere. The bright object was definitely not the moon or any planet. It was way too big for that. The light was brilliant, but not blinding. If I put my hands up and held them about a foot apart, that’s how big it appeared when I first saw it, as I approached it.

Looking up through the open sunroof, I heard no sound and did not feel anything. The object was completely still in the air, not moving, not rotating, just hovering up above and very slightly off to the side, to the right/south of I-40. It was lower than the mountain ridge to my right. It was closer to the road than to the mountain. As I drove under it, I was a little scared, but nothing happened. I would say it was at about the 1:00 position above the highway. There was no other traffic around me on the east bound lane. Since I was looking up, I didn’t notice if there was any traffic coming toward me on the west bound lane.I passed a small unlit exit on my right leading downwards to the south, but passed it too quickly to catch the number. Then, I came into trucks and had to take my eyes away. When I looked back, I couldn’t see the object anymore because the road curved. I came up to the Morganton exit, several minutes after I saw the object.

I don’t know how to explain the missing time between 8:30 and 10:00 pm. It doesn’t take an hour and a half to drive between Old Fort and Morganton! I was driving between 65 and 70 miles an hour, so I couldn’t have fallen asleep. I left Asheville at about 7pm, and Old Fort about 8:00, so I should have been past Statesville by 10 PM. My dashboard clock is accurate.

I will be 67 this month. I am a retired school teacher and live near Rocky Mount, NC. I don’t smoke, drink, do drugs, or mess around. I have backpacked around the world twice and am an avid hiker and trekker. As a teacher, I am rational, objective, and factual. I don’t believe in UFO’s. I have never seen one. However, I try to keep an open mind and entertain possibilities without judgment.

What did I see? And what happened to me in the missing hour and a half? Perhaps I made a mistake? I think I will make the drive again soon and double check the time and my position. I know that steep mountain ridge, just not sure exactly where it is. I tried to check on Google Earth, but it does not give elevations, so I could not tell exactly where I was. Surely, there must be an explanation.

Photo? My phone was dead and charging, but it would have been dangerous to do while driving, and I didn’t feel safe stopping that late at night in such a location. Frankly, I MUST have seen a UFO, what else could it have been? Yes, I have lost time twice before that I know of; once at twelve years old and once in India in 1976. I have no explanation. I experienced a great sense of urgency both times, but don't know why.

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.” Hamlet, Scene V -W. Shakespeare.

Thank you.

Posted 2014-11-06

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