NUFORC Sighting 02122

Occurred: 1995-03-10 22:00 Local
Reported: 1997-04-02 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 10-15 min.
No of observers: 2

Location: Coconino Nat'l Forest north of Wupatki NM, AZ, AZ, USA

Shape: Formation

Summary : Man and woman observe cluster of about 8, motionless blinking blue lights (not in sync), lazer-like pulses of light between them, and ground hovering white light for 15 minutes.

This event occured a little over two years ago while my then fiancee and I were camping in one of my favorite and extremely remote locations just north of Wupatki National Monument in Arizona. We both witnessed the event for its duration and had both worked as National Park Rangers prior to this sighting. I havn't reported this officially until now because I thought we were probably the only ones to see such a thing, and that few would believe us. Recent news reports of sightings in that exact area promted me to write this in the case it could be helpful. My fiance and I split up not too long after this event and havn't spoken since. She could be contacted for independent verification, if someone wanted to do so. She was really frightened by what happened and hence missed some of what I saw, but I think she saw the majority of what I am about to report. The incidident: I drove out cross-country to my favorite area in my 4Runner and parked it facing East, about 100 ya!rds from the edge of a long, low mesa extending North and South. The landscape dropped off to the East towards the Little Colorado River and the Navajo Res. We built a campfire near my lowered tailgate and began to enjoy the evening. At one point, I was sitting on the tailgate facing West while my fiance was tending the fire. I looked straight up at the sky, and in my peripheral vision caught sight of a blinking light. At first, I just thought it was an airplane, but I noticed it wasn't moving at all. Then, I noticed from 5-7 other blinking lights in the same general quadrant of the sky--and outstretched hand would probably "capture" the space they all occupied. I think they were whitish blue, but they may have been light red (I'm sorry, I really can't recall exactly) and were not blinking in unison. None were moveing at all. This is why I kept watching them and told my fiance to look at them. Then, we saw a lazer-like pulse of light shoot from one to another. I thi!nk I saw this happen 2, maybe 3 times. Then we noticed a whitish yellow light--much like a distant headlight--travelling near the ground in the distance ahead (East) of us. At first I thought it was a car or motorcyle--but I've never seen any other person out as far as I went, and certainly never at night... About the time I was beginning to worry that it was someone travelling toward I light, it went up and then back down a few degrees offf the horizen. It continued to repeat this as it travellied along. Most of the terrain there is fairly level, so I started doubting it was a car. I put out the fire and had my fieance turn off her headlamp (she was too scared to do so). When I looked back at the whitish light, it was apparently moving in our direction--but I couldn't tell how far away it was...at one point I thought for certain it was only 50 yards in front of us. But there was no sound at all, so I figured I must be wrong. Then we looked back up to the sky to see if!the other lights were still there; they were. But when we looked out to the East for the whitish light, it was gone. Then I noticed the same bluish or reddish (I think blue) lights blinking in the NW sky! They had moved from the SE to the NW. And then, to the N, we saw the whitish light travelling along the ground again...going up and down periodically like no car or earthbound vehicle could have done. I t was almost as if it was searching for something. Then it disappeared and the lights in the NW sky were gone too. We slept in the back of my truck and had a restless night's sleep. It was the strangest thing I had ever seen (though we both did sight one UFO each when much younger). I always wondered if the military was conducting some advanced lazer weaponry by sattelites--but this never does quite explain the white object hovering near the ground.....The next day, oberservations of the terrain in the directions we saw the white light made it even more clear that it!could not have been a vehicle. Background information: I was 33 at the time, and my fiance 29. We both have bachelors degrees and some other training. We were very healthy and didn't do any drugs or drink alcohol, etc. We had each worked as National Park Rangers, and I was/am more of a skeptic than anything else. I used to love to read the Skeptical Inquirerer! Now I am more open to various possibilities, but I still thing it could have been some type of military operation. I sure would like to know! Hope this helpful in some way; if you need more into, please contact me at any time.

Posted 1998-03-07