NUFORC Sighting 44702

Occurred: 1970-03-21 20:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2005-07-01 21:30 Pacific
Duration: 15-20 minutes
No of observers: 0

Location: Camp Pendleton, CA, USA

Shape: Disk
Characteristics: Lights on object, Left a trail, Emitted beams, Changed Color, Landed

While using night vison scopes , 28 Marines witness 3 saucer craft hovering near Camp Pendleton rifle range during night firing exersi

A group of about 23 Marines were in training at the Scout Sniper School On the Camp Pendleton Marine Base,(Camp Horno), I believe, which is a few miles East of San Clemente Ca. We were about 2-3 miles or so NE of Camp Horno On a night firing range where we were scheduled to do a familarization fire on a 200 meter course at 1/2 size silhouette targets using M-16 Rifles with Starlite scopes mounted on them.

There was a 1st Lt., a 1st Sgt.,and a Cpl.(troop handler) in charge of the training. Three squads of Marines were lined up behind three bench rest positions and there were three Rifle and Starlite Scopes to be used for the firing.

It was just getting dark enough to shoot when one of the Marines in my squad called me to the front of the line and pointed with his finger to what appeared(with the naked eye ) to be a star in a northerly direction just above the horizon. It looked like it was approximately 1-3 miles away.The "star" appeared to be changing colors like the twinkling effect of a star that you might see on any given night. The weather was clear and the stars were out and was providing good ambient light to enable us to see astonishing detail as we viewed what was vey plainly a saucer craft that was hovering slightly above a small mountain peak in the distance. Using the Starlite Scope(1X or 2x,), the craft appeared quite close. It was a classic saucer shape,dark in color, like black graphite,not shiny; similar to what the Stealth Aircraft of the 90's looked like. There were no visible landing gear,or other protuberances of any kind, nor were there any apparent "hatches" or doors, entrances etc. visible.

The most noticible thing about the saucer was the five portholes and the bright light eminating from them,and the turret (not dome), that was slowly rotating counter clockwise. The portholes were an estimated 20 feet apart, and appeared to be tinted. The portholes were eminating bright light in various colors; red,blue green, amber(or yellow), and white. The source of the light was a very powerful beam emitter similar to a brillant light house beacon, and appeared to be stationary in the approximate center of the craft. The twinkling effect seemed to be due to the revolving of the turret which caused the tinted portholes to eminate the various colors described;however,through the scope we could not only clearly see the different colored portholes. We could see through them into the interior of the craft as well.

The interior of the craft was consistent in symmetry to the shape of the craft's outward apparence. The walls were curved, rounded and the floor was flat but the interesting fact was that there was no visible control center; no consoles, instruments,desks, chairs, or items,objects or property --nothing at all.

We could only see into the right side of the craft; perhaps 49% of the interior space from our angle of observation.

After about 5-10 minutes the craft went down behind the peak and stayed there about 5 minutes. Just about the the time we were ready to start firing, the craft rose back up above the peak. A short time later two more of the saucers,identical in appearance to the first, rose up, one on each side of the first craft, only lower in the sky, forming a triangular shaped formation. All three of the saucers moved slowly accross the sky to the East and then stopped. The first saucer started moving now SE at an increasing rate of speed until it reached a "pivot-point" and shot off in a reverse angle,of about 45% to the west at an incredibly fast speed; much faster than the military jets of the day(F-4 Phantoms and A-6 Intruders).

When the craft hit the atmosphere the front of it starting giving off tremendous sparks and a tail of fire like a comet 3-4 times the length of the saucer, trailed behind it. About 30 seconds later it was out of sight. The outher two craft repeated the same manuever and disappeared at the same point in the sky.

During the observation of these saucer craft no noise was heard coming from them at any time. The area that they were in, while on or near the ground, was in a restricted area, possibly an artillary impact area. The craft displayed speeds of travel that were far in excess of any known aircraft in existence then or now and performed turning manuevers that were, according to my knowledge never seen before and even now years later. The technological capability displayed by these craft I believe far exceeds anything I know to exist on earth.

As a group we did not talk about what we saw since we were seriously concentrating on our training which was preparing for Vietnam. After the last saucer was gone, one of the Marines asked our Lt. if he was going to report the incident. He replied: Do you f---ing think I'm crazy ?

NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that date of the event is approximate. PD

Posted 2005-07-05