NUFORC Sighting 47652

Occurred: 1982-06-01 22:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2005-11-11 19:16 Pacific
Duration: 10-15 minutes
No of observers: 0

Location: Peekskill, NY, USA

Shape: Chevron
Characteristics: Lights on object

Hundreds witness Large slow moving Craft at Drive-in

At what was then the Hollowbrook Drive-in in 1982 or 1983, there was a large crowd of people watching the movie. From directly behind the screen appeared a huge chevron shaped craft with many white and orange lights along the forward edges.

People instantly started yelling and screaming while pointing to it, several cars started and drove quickly and erratically out of the drive-in lot. I heard no noise, but the noise of everyone in the lot was fairly loud so it would have been hard to hear anyway.

Several people starting yelling that it was "ultra-lights", (small planes), and I felt very strongly at that moment that this thing was one object and not a formnation of several objects. I am lucky enough to have also witnessed the small craft (ultra-lights) that were indeed flying the Hudson Valley at the same time as the famous triangle ufo and I can say with conviction that the two sighting were instantly and exceedingly different.

The first craft was very slow, very steady and it seemed that a jogger would easily keep up with it. The second sighting of the ultra-lights was easily recognized as a formation of small aircraft, unable to stay in precise formation, drifting towards and away from each other, and recognizable engine noise as well.

Also, the second sighting was not really a chevron shape, but more of a sloppy semi-circle of small white lights.

I can understand how those who never saw the first could dismiss the rash of sightings as bogus when they saw the second, but those of us who saw both things cannot be convinced they were one and the same.

Although there were hundreds of witnesses at the drive-in that night, and the craft moved slowly towards Peekskill city proper and many more must have seen it, I don't recall reading or hearing any report of it specifically. At the time it was one of the first of many sightings of this craft.

I estimate it to be about 200-300 feet at its widest and nearly that long as well. There was a smaller red light at its center. The larger lights were huge themselves, maybe 20-30 feet in diameter.

I saw similar lights (very large) during daylight about three years later moving in the exact same valley as the drive-in, many people pulled off the road to see them as the were BELOW tree level. The sighting lasted only a minute or so, and there were several huge white lights in a staggered pattern. I could not make out any structure, even though this was a midday sighting.

NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that the date of the incident is approximate. PD

Posted 2005-12-16