NUFORC Sighting 05076

Occurred: 1956-03-01 13:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 1998-12-11 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 30 minutes
No of observers: 3

Location: Petaluma, CA, USA

Shape: Oval
Characteristics: Lights on object, Emitted beams, Aircraft nearby

Objects were several thousand feet in altitude and bounced around the sky basically overhead. I was 17 years old at the time. The Petaluma Argus Courier Newspaper came out with the event the next day with my name. I was ridiculed for years. Several months later I received a call from a Control Tower Operator in Oakland who would not tell me his name but verified what I saw was viewed on RADAR at the Center.

The objects ere circular in shape and the sun reflected off the material. I and my two class mates were working in a venitian blind company just outside of town when the event occurred. We were all in our teens. Subsequently I had observed other phenomena througout the years. My girlfriend (eventually my wife) were parked on a hill overlooking the Burbank Airport one summer night in around March of 1956. A cirlular object floated over our heads and just sat there. We were sitting in a convertible and just looked up and saw a huge cirlular object with several lights underneath. It hovered there for about 20 minutes. Planes were landing overhead above the object. Eventually it sped off over the Burbank mountains. Soon after marriage driving from Burbank to our new home in Orange, California at about 2 am in the morning, we were tracked by a bright green ball type object that followed us over the organe groves until we reached out home. Then next day the papers were full of sightings over El Toro Marine base near by. Several years later while living in Villa Park, California (near Orange,CA.) I was awakened after midnight with what sounded like rocks on the roof. Then there was a brilliant white/blue light that came from our Patio and lit up our room. I ran outside to the Patio and the light was not there. I looked up and saw an object in the Western sky that appeard to retract a bright light from beneath (like airplane landing lights) and up into the object. It then sped off towards the ocean. The next night I saw a bright light streak across the sky from North to South. Subsequently I was approached by a person outside of Reno, Nevada and had several years of education regarding UFO's. I met with Linda Moulton Howe in Oceanside, California about 5 or 6 years ago. I related the story to her. We communicated for a while and then lost contact. Professor Hynek and his assistant was also in contact with me regarding this 'person'. But when I sent a tape recording to Hynek and the audio was completely erased including the emulsion, Hynek thought it best to cut off communications with me. That was the last time I heard from him. The year was about 1975 when I leved in Villa Park, CA. The original tape from the interview also dissapeared from my safe. I decided to just forget the whole thing.

Posted 1999-01-28

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