NUFORC Sighting 54674

Occurred: 1998-01-01 23:00 Local
Reported: 2007-01-11 13:49 Pacific
Duration: 5 minutes
No of observers: 3

Location: Milwaukee/West Allis/West Milwaukee, WI, USA

Shape: Changing
Characteristics: Lights on object, Changed Colo

Golden orb follows car, then changes into black triangle ufo, stops , and "waits" for them to pass close by.

It was New Years day, 1998. Approximately 10:55 pm in Wisconsin, USA.

Three people were driving from Milwaukee to West Allis on a routine 20 minute drive to drop off a companion on a cold New Year's night. While on the apex of a bridge adjacent to an industrial area, the back passenger spotted a golden light, flashing at a rate of about 4 flashes per second, moderately high in the dark southwestern sky [see FIGURE 1]. It was about the size and color of a small, golden street light, fixed in the sky behind and to the left of the vehicle. The back-seat passenger alerted the driver and the front passenger to the peculiarity of the light, and they all thought it might be some sort of "helicopter" or "star". As there was hardly any traffic, the driver slowed the vehicle down between 10 to 15 mph.

The object conspicuously glided down towards the ground and closer to the observers. It ceased flashing and became a solid "gold-light orb" [see FIGURE 2]. Now seeming to be only a few blocks away to their left (west), it began to parallel the movement of the vehicle—keeping up with its exact speed.. It was fairly low to the ground because it was somewhat being obscured by some thin tree branches (without leaves) along the roadside.

The vehicle, now having passed off the bridge, continued to move northbound towards a major intersection. As the driver slowed even more to get into the left-hand turn lane at a stop light, a red light rotated around the left side of the object, and then a blue light rotated around to the right side of the object. Both lights stopped at the visible edges and remained fixed at the object's respective sides for only a moment—disappearing within seconds [see FIGURE 3]. At this point the object was moving at its slowest. Because of the sudden appearance of the “police” lights and its speed, the witnesses concluded that it must be a police helicopter on a mission.

As the car sat at a complete stop in the left-hand turn lane, there were a few cars to the right of the vehicle. But people in those cars were not looking toward the object, which was traveling at a laborious pace very low to the ground (perhaps a 100 ft). It could barely be seen unless you were looking for it. As the object began to cross over the avenue they were going to turn onto (west), it now appeared to “branch out” into a string of five pale-white lights. It moved silently, almost at “walking speed”. The witnesses rationalized that it might be some sort of plane trying to make an emergency landing - but why land perpendicular to the street? The lights suddenly stopped and became fixated directly above an estimated seven story factory building just two blocks away. The traffic light changed to green, and the driver finally turned left toward the object; it was just up ahead. No other cars or people were out on this usually busy street. Curiosity and perplexity filled the witnesses as they moved closer to the building.

Finally, the car pulled over to the side of the road. The back passenger rolled down his window and stuck his head out of the car to observe what could be resting in the sky above. The other two people strained to get a good view from the front passenger window. What seemed like a string of lights from a few blocks away on approach were actually the lights on the "front" and underneath of a large, black, equilateral triangle object. The five lights shown down like "baseball stadium lights", and were located at all three corners and in the middle of the two "front" sides [see FIGURE 4].

This large object was “fixed” in the air, producing absolutely no noise, movement, or flashing. Everything around them seemed so still, almost like they were in a vacuum and “weren’t supposed to be there.” The body of the triangle was colored charcoal-black, with a faint, grayish grove running along the front tip to the back center. There were visible sides: the edges showing a continuous grayish-black indentation with a slight overhang or lip. There also seemed to be very faint “circuit board” type etches on the body of the object. These apparent etchings were more apparent in the center grove on the “belly” of the triangle and within the groove or indentation along the sides. One witness later remarked that some of its features reminded him of a “Star Destroyer” space vehicle from the Star Wars movies.

After approximately 30 seconds of viewing the object, the driver became agitated and fearful, saying that they “have to get out of here.” He drove away and continued westbound on the avenue. When they left, the object left their point of view. But as they increased their distance at a block away, it came into view again in the back window, still fixated in the sky in the exact position last seen. Anyone else viewing the object might have passed and though nothing of it. It was so still and innocuous, that they probably would have thought it was part on the building complex. As the car passed over a hill a few blocks west of the object, it could not be seen any more. No other cars were observed on the road until about a half mile later.

The total experience was less than 5 minutes.

The three witnesses remained shaken for the rest of the night, with one of them insisting that it must be some sort of police helicopter performing a maneuver, and never wanting to talk about it again.

The most disturbing thing to the witness in the back seat was that even though he had been a big “UFO buff” from the time he was young, the word “UFO” or “alien” never entered his mind until after the triangle was completely out of view. He even had other UFO related experiences before this, but still cannot explain why he wasn’t “freaking out” at the time. The best explanation was that “he was denying it in his mind to keep his body from freaking out.” The strangest element to the whole experience was the apparent personal awareness the object had to the witnesses. It got their attention by flashing, moved in and followed alongside the vehicle at a distance, changed forms, and seemed to wait for them and them only.

NUFORC Note:

Date of sighting may be approximate, although the witness does not indicate that fact. PD

Posted 2007-02-01