NUFORC Sighting 31064

Occurred: 2003-08-30 23:55 Local
Reported: 2003-08-31 16:05 Pacific
Duration: 1:45
No of observers: 10

Location: McGregor, MN, USA

Shape: Triangle
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

At 11:55 pm on August 30th, ten people who were gathered around a campfire in northern Minnesota witnessed a triangular shaped craft that was subsequently chased by multiple military aircraft. The craft's 'wingspread' was an apparent two inches at arm's length. It had four white lights in a diamond shape at the front, an apparent one quarter inch in size at arm's length, and two solid red lights on each of the apparent leading edges. None of the lights blinked and all were very bright. We heard the craft coming over the trees at the water's edge before we saw it, so it was apparently flying very slowly. All were in awe upon seeing it, as it was flying much too slowly to be a 'standard' aircraft, the lights were very bright and distinct, and yet it was apparently high the sky. The sound it made was that of a very high flying commercial jet. It was flying west to east, directly toward Duluth, Mn.

Prior to seeing this craft, two of the witnesses had been watching two apparent military aircraft in the distance north of the lake, flying east. After the craft passed overhead, these two military craft were seen flying very fast southeast to intercept the unindentified craft. No sound was heard from the military craft, which suggests they were at high altitude, and one of the witnesses, formerly in the military, stated that they were flying above mach speed. They covered ground VERY quickly. They then intercepted the unidentified craft several miles away and then flew next to it, while two more military aircraft appeared from the south and also flanked the craft, as it disappeared into the distance. All of the military craft were much smaller than the object, which dwarfed them. From this, it was estimated that the size of the object was approximately one thousand feet from wing tip to wing tip.

Thirty minutes later, at 12:30am, several military craft were seen coming from the east, circled the area, and then joined with a group of aircraft following the exact path of the first object, and attempting to fly in the same triangular pattern, apparently in a attempt to show that the first object was only a military excercise.

Again at 1:34am, two more military aircraft circled the area, this time close enough that through a binoculars they could be identified as fighter jets (the lights on these aircraft made structure visible), and again they joined with a formation of other aircraft flying the exact path of the original object, and in a triagle formation.

All witnesses thought this situation had an element of high strangeness about it. In one hour and thirty five minutes, twenty six aircraft were observed, including the original object. It is believed that twenty five of the aircraft were 'normal' military craft. The witnesses have been in this area during the summer for many, many years, and have never seen this number of aircraft, either during the day or at night, and hardly ever have seen military aircraft of any kind flying overhead. We are not on a normal commercial route and seldom see commercial craft overhead. It could be that the first two military craft flew in from Minot Air Force base in Minot North Dakota, although this is only speculation.

We were able to video tape portions of the encounter, although we did not get the object on tape as it first went overhead, as we needed to send someone through the dark and into the cabin to retrieve the camera, thus the quality of the video is not very good.

This was the first sighting of any kind for the vast majority of the witnesses. I'm the only person who has ever seen a UFO, having made a report to MUFON several years ago. Only one of the witnesses had been drinking alcohol, and that only beer.



Posted 2003-09-04

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