NUFORC Sighting 02213

Occurred: 1997-05-10 22:45 Local
Reported: 1997-05-13 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 5min.
No of observers: 4

Location: Los Padres National Forest (Ventura Co.), CA, USA

Shape: Other


Summary : Observed two objects. One with flashing multi-colored lights, the second, somewhat bell-shaped with two white-yellow lights. They hovered above us and appeared to be observing us.

On May 10, 1997 we were camping in a remote part of Los Padres National Forest. Our party consisted of myself, my wife ((Three names deleted)). Our location was a campsite known as Thorn Meadows, approximately 20 miles west of the small town of Lake of the Woods, in Ventura county. The elevation there is approximately 4000 ft., the winds were calm, the sky was clear, the stars were bright. A crescent moon was descending. We had camped at this site on two other occasions and although it is very remote, this was the first time we had not seen any other people in the area all day.At approximately 10:45 PM, we were finishing cleaning up after dinner. We had a fire burning. ((Name deleted)), pointing to the northeastern sky, said something to effect of, "Hey, what is that thing? I’ve been watching it for a while and I can’t figure out what it is." I looked in the direction he was pointing and I saw a flashing light, at approximately 50 degrees. At first I thought it was someone walking down the hill with a flashlight because of the erratic way it was flashing. I then realised that this could not be because there was no hill in that direction. After watching it for approx. 30 seconds, I realised two things: one, the flashing light it was emitting was rapidly changing color; two, it was moving in an unpredictable, erratic manner that could not possibly have been an airplane or helicopter. It was moving in a way that seemed to indicate it was searching for something. At that instant, I realised immediately it was not an ordinary aircraft. The object then changed dire!ction and came directly at us in a straight line moving at a high rate of speed which I could not quantify. The object then stopped in plain view, at roughly the same angle to the horizon. I found this very disturbing. Then ((Name deleted)) said, "Look, there’s another one." I turned my head and saw to the southeast, at approximately 30 degrees, another object that had, to me, appeared out of nowhere and was now hovering almost directly above us. This object was different from the other, it had two bright, white-yellow lights and seemed vaguely bell-shaped. Both objects were completely silent and up there you can hear a plane from miles away. I had the distinct but inexplicable sense that they were looking at us. I could not estimate the size or altitude of the objects, but the second object had a similar appearance to a helicopter hovering at maybe 1500 ft. In other words, it was clearly visible.I was quite frightened but ((Name deleted))was absolutely terror-stricken. She was completely resolute that we needed to leave immediately. Seeing the second object sitting up above us was all I needed to make up my mind to go. In seconds we gathered up the dogs, extinguished the fire and got in the truck and I drove as fast as I could down the dirt road. At one point, my wife saw the first object off to the right of our vehicle and believes it was following us. I did not see it and so cannot verify. Later I realised that we were in a classic abduction scenario and I’m glad we left, although I wonder if I would have had it not been for my wife’s urging. I also realise that if they really wanted us, we wouldn’t have had a chance. We spent the night in a motel room in town and went back early in the morning to gather up our things.Let me give you some background here for a frame of reference. I am a skeptical person by nature. In my youth I heard the stories of UFOs and thought, "Well, that could be, but I’ll believe it when I see it." Then, a number of years ago I read Communion which led to my reading a few other books on the subject. Then I realised what was really going on. However, I am most certainly not one of those people that goes around trying to spot UFOs, in fact the opposite is true. After reading Communion, I hoped to never see one of those things. I have spent a lot of time looking at the night sky and have never, until now, seen anything that was completely inexplicable. I am convinced that there is no way these objects that we witnessed could have been some experimental aircraft. The way they accelerated, stopped, changed direction, I don’t believe that a human would be able to withstand the g forces that would have been generated.

Posted 1999-01-28

© 2023 National UFO Reporting Center. All rights reserved. Use or reproduction within any application without written consent is prohibited.