NUFORC Sighting 14972

Occurred: 2000-11-11 17:30 Local
Reported: 2000-11-19 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 2-3minutes
No of observers: 0

Location: Bend, OR, USA

Shape: Circle

Round silvery object above city, possibly car size mylar balloon,seen from a few miles away slowly ascended till out of sight.

I was reviewing the recent reports on your site as I do every couple of weeks to see what is being supposedly seen. I just noted the sighting reported from Bend, Oregon and I need to chime in that I saw that and took two photos, yet to be developed. I was at the Pilot Butte Oregon State Park, which is a large conical volcanic cinder butte which has a road to the top and there were probably ten or twelve other folks up there then at the viewpoint overlooking Bend and vicinity.. My wife works at the nearby ((deleted)) and I had about 15 minutes to wait till I picked her up as she got off at 5P.M.. The place has a great view down to the city of Bend and you can also look over to the Three Sisters Mountains to the west about 25 miles. I had been watching the sunset going down over Mt. Bachelor south of the Three Sisters. There was a high thin cloud layer above the 10,000 foot summits of those mountains, and over Bend.. After a few minutes of watching the sunset I took a few minutes to walk over to the east side to look down on the side where I could see the building below where my wife worked. The sunset was creating a great shadow of the Pilot Butte Cone which was stretching some length of miles across the flat land to the east of town. By chance I had my camera in my car and I took a photo of the long conical shadow, but because it was dimming light I thought to myself that the photo probably would'nt come out with much contrast or detail. As I walked back to my car on the west side of the overlook parking area I spotted this silver circle slowly rising to the west of Bend. I was looking down at it at first and it appeared to be several hundred feet above the ground already, but below my vantage point. It looked like it might have risen from the forest area just west of the city limits. My impression of it was that it was probably a large balloon, perhaps the size of a car, and probably three or four miles distant. My second impression was, is that a UFO? It deffinately appeared round and silver, but I did not see any lights or anything else of distinction on it. There was enough light left in the evening sky to see it pretty well and know that it was not a plane, copter, ultra light, hot air balloon or blimp. It was going very slowly up and drifting slightly north and east and coming for a time closer to my location as it ascended.. I felt this to be consistant with the light wind direction. I had seen a weather balloon launched just a few days before at the Salem, Oregon airport and it rose at a similar pace. However it did not have that kinda inverted teardrop shape nor the hanging attachment of instruments like a weather balloon does. In that I had intended to photograph the great setting sun silhouette of the mountains, I went ahead and took two photos then with the circular object pretty much centered in the frame, just in case it was really a UFO.. By then the object had risen to about eye level and was above the tops of the distant mountains from my vantage point. I have not developed that roll of film yet, and at best it would probably appear no bigger on the print than this period>. unless enlarged. If it is helpful, I! can pro vide a copy of those photos when developed. Had I observed any thing more out of the ordinary, like unusual maneuvers, I would have rushed that unfinished roll of film to the developer. I noticed several of the other folks at the top of the Butte looking at the object but nobody appeared too excited so I just presumed it to be a balloon and that they probably did too. In that it was time for me to go and pick up my wife by then,I drove on down the spiraling road from the top. Several minutes had elapsed and the object kept slowly floating up toward the high clouds. I lost sight of it as I spiraled down the road, and when I could'nt spot it any longer I presumed it to have disappeared into the clouds.

NUFORC Note:

Time indicated is approximate. It is an estimate of when sunset would occur in that part of Oregon. We spoke with the witness, and find him to be quite credible. He holds a responsible job. PD

Posted 2000-12-02