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By Robert A. Vella

What follows is a personal account of an inexplicable sighting I had recently.  I would like to emphasize that I have no idea what it was that I saw, and that I have never seen anything remotely like it ever before.  I have military experience in the U.S. Army in addition to considerable experience with various aircraft types, aviation, and aeronautics, although none of which in a professional capacity.  I have never reported a UFO sighting to anyone neither officially nor anecdotally.  I am asking the readers of this blog for informative input because all the reactions so far from family, friends, and acquaintances have been less than helpful to say the least.  This is no joke, no dream, no drug-induced hallucination.

∞

Between 21:45 and 22:00 on the evening of Thursday, July 13th 2017, I looked out my bedroom window before intending to close my curtains.  The view is almost due east from my apartment in west Longview, Washington.  I saw an amber light that I assumed was a single-engine private aircraft traveling northwards and traversing my line of sight horizontally from right to left.  I estimate that it was approximately 3-4 miles away, moving slowly at about 2500 ft., and roughly the size of a small automobile.  We see a lot of small planes flying around here like that, so it was certainly not unusual except that this aircraft didn’t have the typical blinking red anti-collision beacon on.

Just when I motioned to close the drapes, the object suddenly moved in the opposite direction.  That caught my attention because aircraft don’t reverse course so abruptly.  It continued southwards, left to right from my perspective, only for 4-5 seconds or so and then reversed course again in the same manner.  I kept watching.

About 10 seconds after the object had resumed its northerly course, it completely stopped moving and turned into a brilliant blue light.  It hung there in the sky motionless for several seconds (I’m not sure exactly how long) and then dropped straight down vertically at a much greater speed, perhaps four times its previous horizontal speed.  I was startled.

Quickly, when the object was only a few hundred feet above the hilly forested terrain, it stopped once more and turned back into an amber light.  Then, it moved vertically downwards again very, very slowly for only a few seconds and disappeared.  I assumed the amber light had turned off.

I waited for a couple of minutes, but couldn’t see it again.  I went into my bathroom for 6-7 minutes.  Afterwards, I returned to my bedroom window intending to close the curtains;  and, to my astonishment, witnessed the exact same sighting for a second time!  Whether it was the same object or a different one, I do not know.

As of this date, July 18th 2017, I haven’t been able to find any other corroborating account of my sighting.

The following are illustrations of what I saw overlaid upon one of three photos I took during the second sighting.  None of the pictures showed the object at all.  The last two were ruined when my camera flash reflected off the window screen and overexposed the photos.

Original first photo of the second sighting. Object would’ve appeared amber in color in the upper center of the picture.

First photo of the second sighting retouched to enhance the contrast, saturation, and brightness of the picture.

Retouched photo illustrating the initial part of the second sighting.

Retouched photo illustrating the final part of the second sighting.

49 thoughts on “What the hell did I see the other night?”

    • Yes, I thought that too and someone else suggested it. But, would a drone change color and emit such a bright light? Also, could a drone move so fast downwards and on such a straight vertical line? The wind was blowing, and this object didn’t waver or meander even in the slightest.

      Liked by 1 person

        • Thanks, Noel. But what I was looking for in this post was informative input, not opinion. Anyone can speculate about what I saw, and I made every effort not to do so. There is an objective explanation for the object I witnessed, and I want to find it.

          The good Professor said that he has seen drones which looked and moved like the object I sighted. I take him at his word, but I need more hard facts to reach that same conclusion. 🙂

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        • That’s especially why I didn’t respond to it. There are hardly any drones here.
          I am not a planes enthusiast and wouldn’t tell one from the other.
          I am waiting for an answer to your question too.
          Is it possible to have the photos at a more clearer resolution, one that eliminates noise and any reflections so that we are left with a very clear image of what you saw

          Liked by 1 person

        • I doubt it. My cellphone camera is very low resolution, and the conditions with which I took the photos were extremely poor. Furthermore, I scanned close-up images of the photos and couldn’t located the object in question at all. It was like it wasn’t even there. But, I sent them to MUFON anyway. Maybe they can see more than I could.

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  3. How strange! The photos are hard to see clearly unfortunately. I can’t see the amber object in the upper quadrant of the first photo for example. In the third photo I do see it. Did you brighten it or is this how it appeared? It is the movement that is most interesting. You said it moved quickly down in a straight line which could imply a heavy object falling at gravitational velocity, not a controlled descent. If it moved slowly down that would seem more suspicious. Maybe you should send all your data to some UFO reporting agency or even a drone identifying agency to get some clarity.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Thank you, Cindy. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th pictures are enhanced images of the first original photo. I increased the color saturation, contrast, and brightness in order to make the content more discernible. Then, I overlaid the illustrations over the 3rd and 4th pictures.

      The object did drop down quickly as if falling by gravity (faster than that, it seemed), then it stopped, changed color, and descended very slowly before disappearing.

      You’re right, I should report it; and, I think I will. 🙂

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    • Just got off the phone with the MUFON Washington state assistant director Aleka DeBee (not sure about the spelling). After we reviewed my sighting, she couldn’t determine what the object was and assessed it as “unidentified.”

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  4. It must have been fascinating to watch, Robert. I saw something similar back in the mid-1960s while walking home with friends. The sudden direction changes and high acceleration had me wondering. There were no drones back then.

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    • That’s very interesting, John. As I explained to Professor Taboo, helicopters, drones, and other VTOL capable aircraft do not move vertically without some wavering, meandering, or wobbling from a perfectly straight line. This object that I saw did move so perfectly (and rapidly)…. and, the wind was blowing.

      I’d love to read the account of your UFO experience from the mid-1960s. You can post it here if you want. 🙂

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  5. That was over 50 years ago, Robert and I don’t remember all the details. What struck me most was that the object hovered for a few seconds (no clue about its altitude) beyond the trees that lined the other side of the street – and then it took off at a 90-degree angle with incredible speed! It was the speed that had me gaping! I’ve never seen anything move that fast since.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. I have no experience in this field so I am just wondering out loud…
    You mention the second sighting.
    Was it in the same or close to the same position as the first?
    If so, could it have been some sort of laser projection from a fixed point on the ground?

    Liked by 1 person

  8. I saw something in the sky one night that I’ve never been able to explain.

    It was the Summer of 1988 and I’d just gotten home from work. It was after midnight. I saw a light moving steadily across the sky at what seemed a normal speed. I assumed it was a plane. Suddenly, the light moved at what appeared to be an incredible speed across the sky, stayed in that general area, then sped back in the opposite direction (approximately to where it had been when it moved so quickly) and stayed there a while. I continued to watch it for a while as it seemed to hover. I noticed it was blinking. Then it took off again at what seemed to be an incredible speed and I lost sight of it.

    The following night, a little earlier than the previous night, I got home from work and a friend I hadn’t seen in a few years dropped by. We spoke for a few minutes and he mentioned that he liked to watch the sky at night. I then told him what I’d witnessed the night before. As I was explaining what I’d seen, I swear we saw the same thing happen: a light moved at what seemed to be an incredible speed across the sky a few times back and forth, stayed relatively motionless, then moved at an alarming speed and we lost sight of it. We both got a chill and didn’t speak for about 30 seconds.

    I have no idea what it was. I don’t have details like you about altitude and didn’t see it descend, but it did not exhibit the normal characteristics of a plane. And I saw it two consecutive nights and nothing like it ever since.

    Strange, huh?

    Liked by 1 person

    • Sightings like yours do seem strange to us individually, but they are definitely not uncommon. Thousands of such UFO accounts are reported every year, and I assume there are many more thousands which go unreported.

      I am convinced that the motion of the object you and your friend witnessed in 1988 was under intelligent control. Natural phenomena, such as meteors, do not reverse course or make abrupt or extreme changes in velocity. What these kinds of UFOs are is another question, however. I’m sure the military is operating secret craft which could account for many of these sightings; and, I cannot rule-out the possibility of extraterrestrials. There are other possibilities also which are more difficult to imagine.

      Thank you for sharing your story! 🙂

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