NUFORC Sighting 51166

Occurred: 1978-07-01 17:30 Local
Reported: 2006-06-29 12:36 Pacific
Duration: 5 Min
No of observers: 2

Location: Carson, CA, USA

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Changed Color, Aircraft nearby

For about 5 minutes I watched an odd shaped object in the sky over the city of Carson, Ca, that was then chased by 4 Military jets.

I just got off work and stopped at my folks house in Carson California to pick up my son. Carson is about 18 miles south of down town Los Angeles. It was about 5:30 PM on a weekday in July in 1978 or 79. My folks house is in the suburbs with curbs, gutters and alot of homes. As I pulled up in front of the house an old friend pulled up accross the street to see his family. We stood on the sidewalk talking. It was a perfectly clear afternoon with a strong breeze, no clouds and a real blue sky. A blue sky is very important to me. There were several kites flying real high in the sky. As we were talking I noticed that one of the kites was very high. I point out how high it was to my friend but he looked and didn't see it. He always had bad eyesite so I just let it go. While talking I kept looking up at this one kite. It didn't act like a kite. It didn't bounch around in the sky like a kite, it just stayed still in one spot. Then it quickly came down lower. I told my friend the string must have broke. He looked but still didn't see it. Then the kite starts moving from spot to spot in the sky. It moved real fast. I said to my friend this isn't a kite. Then I noticed it kept changing colors. It changed from light gray to dark gray, almost black. My friend still doesn't see it. Then it hit me, this is a balloon. It's a silver gray balloon that is not fully filled and the wind causes it to change shape and the dark color is really shadows on it. Then it dropped down lower and I could see it. It was not a kite or a ballon. This flying thing was about 1500 feet above Carson High School and I'm about 1/4 mile south of the school. The sun is in the west and I'm looking north. I can see it clearly. It was not as long as a fighter jet but was wider. It made no noise or so little I couldn't hear it. This thing is 3 sided. Best way to discribe it is if you took a football and cut it in half from end to end. Now throw the bottom away and just use the top half. Now flaten out the sides so they meet at a ridge on top.The sides and bottom are not flat but slightly convexed. So this thing has a bottom and 2 sides with a slightly pointy front and rear where the sides and bottom come together. It was odd shaped. It is mostly a shinny gray. There are no windows or joint lines that I could see. There are no visible lights but there are light and dark gray lines that move from end to end along the sides and along the bottom. These lines look like gray bar codes that randomly move quickly and slowly from end to end. That's why it looks like it changes from light to dark and also seems to have shadows at a further distance. So here is this shinny gray thing rippling with gray bar code lines in plain site and my friend can't see it. He's squinting and I'm pointing to no avail. Then it takes off straight up and out of site. About 10 seconds latter it comes back. This time it is a little lower then before and a little clearer to see. My friend can't see it. I can't believe he can't see it. Half of Los Angeles has got to be looking at this thing. It is in sight for about 30 seconds slowly turning from side to side. Then again it goes straight up and again out of site, never to be seen by me again. 5 to 10 seconds later I saw 4 military type fighter jets fly over Carson and go straight up in the air after it with after burners roaring. There was no way they were ever going to catch this thing, it was far faster then the jets. I ask my friend did he see the jets? He said he did. I watched this thing for about 5 minutes. I checked the paper and watched the news for days but nothing was ever reported. Haven't seen my friend in many years, bet he probably still thinks I'm crazy and until about a year ago, I had my doughts. Why did the military and apparently only myself see this thing? I think my daughter unknowingly figured it out. She is an artist, a painter, she mixes and creates colors for her art. I have blue gray blindness. I only see certain shades of blues and grays. Most of the time, I only see grays. To me, the sky is mostly gray with a hint of blue on occasion and only on a few days out of the year do I see a bright blue sky like the day in question. While talking to my daughter, she said that I am missing alot by not seeing the different shades of blues in the sky. Then it hit me. It's not only what I don't see, it's also what I do see. This thing in the sky, it wasn't gray it was probably blue and the bar code lines, they were probably shades of blue not shades of gray. This thing could camouflag itself to the sky. That's why my friend and everybody else couldn't see it when it was in front of them. The military saw it with radar. I saw it because its camouflag colors fell outside of my color spectrum because of my blue gray blindness. Maybe on a grayer day for me I wouldn't have seen it. Its grays to me would have blended together to a camouflag but on this day with a bright blue sky, it stuck out like a soar thumb. Over the years I've learned not to talk about the stuff I see in the sky like this thing and the other stuff because people do look at you like your crazy. On this day I know what I saw and it was real.

NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that date in July 1978 is approximate. PD

Posted 2006-07-16