NUFORC Sighting 38148

Occurred: 2004-03-10 21:50 Local
Reported: 2004-07-16 10:24 Pacific
Duration: 30+ minutes
No of observers: 5

Location: Gallup, NM, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Emitted beams, Changed Color, Aircraft nearby

Extremely bright white light with yellow and green strobing, long duration

My husband stepped outside onto our porch and made a yelp of surprise, calling for me. I stepped outside as well and he pointed out an object in the sky. It was extremely bright, low on the western horizon and large. It appeared to be hovering not too far from us. At first we thought it was possibly a helicopter because we could hear the sound of one approaching but we realized it was not coming from the light but an actual helicopter heading towards the light itself. This helicopter departed the scene after a red light seemed to dart out from the light itself. At least 6 military jets were circling the light at a much higher altitude, keeping a good distance between it and them. The light hovered still for about 10 minutes and then moved very quickly to the right before continuing to hover. My 8 year old son came out to see what we were staring at and shouted "It's a spaceship!". I told him that I didn't know what it was but it was definitely odd. Two other neighbors were outside and appeared to be watching it as well.

We were still debating whether or not it was a search helicopter because it certainly did not seem like one. There was a strobing effect to the light in an alternating yellow/green pattern. We realized that it was moving once again, this time away from us, due west. Although it was diminishing in size, the brightness of the object stayed constant and at the same altitude. At that point, we realized that what we were looking at was not the headlight of a helicopter at all. We watched it until we could see it no more because houses obstructed the view. When it departed, the military entourage departed as well and it was a normal quiet Gallup, NM evening once again.

The last sight that we had of it, it seemed to blink red once. The rest of the time, it was just an extremely bright white light in the sky.

NUFORC Note:

We wonder whether the witnesses might have been looking at the dramatically twinkling star, that would have been visible in the southwest sky on the time and date indicated by the witness. PD

Posted 2004-07-25