NUFORC Sighting 34750

Occurred: 1999-10-15 00:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2004-01-28 21:53 Pacific
Duration: < 3 min

Location: Weed/Yreka (near), CA, USA

Shape: Fireball
Characteristics: Changed Colo

Fall 1999 sighting of green and gold fireballs in N California

From your records I am sure you will be able to determine the exact date and time after reading my account.

The following is from mysent email dated 111401.

“I have two purposes in writing. First, to describe my own sightings of some of these ‘fireballs’ in the north central California area in late fall early winter 1999/2000. I did not record the events other than mentally. At that time I was driving truck on a weekly run from Portland OR to southern California. ...

The first of my fireball sightings occurred as I was northbound on I5, about half way between the Weed airport and Yreka, in northern CA. It was between mid Oct and mid Nov. It could have been on a Tues or Thur night, but was most likely Wed night. I do not recall the exact time, but did make a mental note of the time. I think it was between 2300 and 0100 Pacific Coast Time (GMT –8). It was a large green pulsing fireball that was emitting golden sparks. Relative size to me was most likely slightly over two inches in diameter. I used objects in near field vision within and on the truck, and middle field vision along the freeway as references. Horizontal vector distance was most likely much less than 20 miles from me, based on the distance to hills on the western edge of this relatively North/South valley. The golden sparks were associated (possibly not emitted) with it on the sides and backside of its traverse. None of the golden sparks moved downward toward the earth so were most likely not influenced by earth’s gravitation or else the sparks extinguished quickly enough so as to appear to not be influenced by earth’s gravitational field. I have seen several greenish and other colored meteorite fire trails one of which lit up the sky and exploded over the San Antonio Texas area in 1967 when I was stationed there in the Army. This was definitely not a meteorite. I rolled down my window to listen and observe directly. It was soundless and left no after image of light in the sky or on my retina, nor any light streak, as do most meteor trails. In the ‘tail’ area, somewhat obscured by the golden sparks, were several (I think I remember counting either three or four) smaller objects. Each of these objects was approximately ¼ inch relative diameter with one larger than the others. When I first noticed the small objects they appeared to be slightly not in exact formation with the larger object. I observed them to maneuver independently into an exact single line path following in the path of the larger object. For! the res t of my observation, these objects appeared to follow and maintain an exact distance from each other and the larger object. In color, they appeared to vacillate slightly with the predominate frequency being a yellow-gold different from and paler than the golden sparks. The frequency shift ranged between reddish and bluish around the periphery of the entirety of each object with enough transparency to note the predominant central yellow-gold. Because of the pattern, flight path, and general and specific appearance, at that time I believed them to be manufactured objects (this includes manufactured plasma balls) under some kind of either external or internal control. The direction was roughly slightly east of south, but possibly south by southeast. The track seemed to be parallel to an average altitude above the earth. I observed them as they appeared from over the hills to the north of me until I could no longer see them as they passed out of my field of view as limited by my direction of travel and position in the truck. They could have been visible for as long as 30 seconds. Time is relative and subjective and even more so in situations such as this. I think they were at quite low altitude because during part of the observation they appeared between me and the hills to my west. I was listening to the Art Bell radio talk show at the time and tried several times to call in on my cell phone, but never got through. Others were calling in to the Art Bell program with incident reports. The objects were seen from at least as far north as Portland OR. It was reported that jets were scrambled from a National Guard station at Beaverton OR airport, but never caught up to the objects. Observers reported that somewhere over central CA the fireballs made an orderly sharp-angled turn to the east toward Nevada. I vaguely remember hearing another day that they disappeared or ‘exploded’ somewhere over Nevada.

On two or three Sunday evenings or nights sometime between then and early March 2000 I observed similar greenish fireballs coming from relatively west southwest of my position as I was southbound on I5 within 100 miles north of Sacramento and 50 miles south of Sacramento. These incidents each occurred between 2100 and 0200. On one occasion I saw three fireballs on the same relative directional track, each within one to five minutes of each other. I saw no golden sparks or other small objects during any of these observations. Each of them appeared to be relative size approximately half or less of the Oct/Nov object, and much further distant. My observation period was very short as they traveled quickly from the western horizon over my head toward NV. I remember hearing later of one report from a woman someplace in Castro Valley CA reporting a similar observation but do not know if it could have been the same as one of my sightings. I am certified in NLP and Clinical Hypnotherapy and was in practice for a few years. Part of NLP is about learning to be a good observer and make fine distinctions. I am also a snowboard instructor and used to climb a bit, both of which provide good perspective on outdoor distance and orientation.

Posted 2004-01-31