NUFORC Sighting 27986

Occurred: 1989-03-15 19:30 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2003-03-04 08:15 Pacific
Duration: 15 min
No of observers: 0

Location: Rockfish, VA, USA

Shape: Triangle
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

Triangle up close. Uncharacteristic thoughts in my mind.

I remember this as if it were yesterday. Please note that the month, date and time are approximate. I'm fairly confident of the year, however. At the time I was working in Manassas and was on my way home to Shipman. To break up the monotony of the long drive, I would often times take back roads home. This time I turned off US 29 toward Rockfish. I saw the craft for the first time about two miles before I reached Rockfish. Skies were clear and it was almost, but not quite full dark. I was about 1/4 mile from a small hill directly in front of me. I noted what at the time I thought was an airplane moving direcly away from me over the hill. I could make out distinct red lights. This would be about 1/2 the size of a thumb nail at arms length. I expected the "plane" to disappear behind the hill. All the while I'm getting closer. Just as I expected the craft to disappear, I saw the craft cross between the top of the hill and my car. That's when I realized the craft was coming straight down. At this point I was directly in front of the hill and I see this thing start to fly horizontally through the trees. At this point, the size would be about two hands held at arms length. It had three red lights forming a triangle. For some reason, it reminded me of the back end of an automobile. The third brake light was still novel at this time. I distinctly remember thinking "Hmmmm.... I wonder if there's a road up there and this is the rear of an automobile." Now this thought is riduculous; I just saw this thing come out of the sky and fly through the trees! I just shrugged it off and drove on.

I drove through Rockfish. (This hardly qualifies as a town, just a railroad crossing and a couple of houses.) I was on my way toward Shipman, somewhere near Ball Mountain. This would be approximately 5 to 10 minutes later. This thing flew right over my car! It filled the entire windshield! It floated across the road from right to left. It was a perfect equilateral triangle defined by blood red lights in each corner. These lights would be about three or four feet in diameter, and there was about 30 feet between the lights. It was just above the trees. I'm guessing there was about 40 feet from one side of the road to the other and it took several seconds to cross this distance. I watched this thing float away and it kind of followed the terain at treetop level and had a very peculiar way of moving. When it changed direction it would point one apex into the direction it was moving. This appeared as a small rotation. I continued to watch this thing for ten to fifteen seconds. By this point, I'm turning around and looking over my left shoulder and was just creeping along. It finally went out of sight and I drove home and FORGOT IT! Literally! I was sitting around talking with my wife, Dad, and Sister and in passing the subject of UFO's came up. At that point I suddenly "remembered" the event and described it to my family. That was also the first time I felt frightened.

I started driving this route home every night after this event. Two more events of note occured. One night about three miles from Rockfish, I again saw this triangle shape just hanging motionless above another ridge. This time, however, the corner lights were yellow. The craft appeared about the size of a thumb nail at arms length. I stopped the car and got out. Like my initial sighting, I had the distinct feeling that this thing was aware of my presence. I watched for about twenty seconds and this thing did that peculiar rotation and descended behind the ridge. Another night, in the vicinity of Ball Mountain again, a jet flew over the car and it was LOUD and LOW! It really made me jump! Now we don't typically see jets flying low in the mountains at night! It has only been recently that I figured out what was so peculiar and may account for my feeling of being watched. At all times when viewing this object, it appeared as a perfect equilateral triangle no matter how it moved in relationship to me. If it were a flat object with lights on the bottom, you would expect the relationship of the lights to change as this thing manuevered. This was not the case. If it were a flat object, it had to keep one face focused on me as it moved around i. e. it was aware of me. I even thought that perhaps the object was a tetrahendon, but the the same argument still applies. I have never seen this observation descibed in other "triangle" reports. Have you? I did start having bad nightmares after this event and would wake myself up screaming. They do not happen as often anymore. I have no idea if they are related to this sighting. One other odd thing. I have never been able since to exactly pinpoint the spot near Ball Mountain where this thing flew over my car. A couple of spots look almost, but not quite "right." Believe me, this is NOT a hoax. It really happened. I have a degree in physics form the University of Virginia and now work as an aerospace engineer in Charlottesville. This thing has haunted me for years and I thought it was time to share it. Thank you for the forum you provide and all you hoaxers out there please take it elsewhere.



NUFORC Note:

We are grateful for the excellent report. Date of incident may be approximate. PD


Posted 2003-03-21

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