NUFORC Sighting 61959

Occurred: 1968-06-01 00:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2008-02-27 18:10 Pacific
Duration: half an hour+
No of observers: 2

Location: Binghamton, NY, USA

Shape: Disk
Characteristics: Lights on object

UFO saucer seen Binghamton, NY, 1968-69

This sighting took place approx. 1968-1969 over Binghamton, NY. I recall my husband and I were returning home from seeing the movie "Rosemary's Baby" with Mia Farrow. My husband (soon to be ex, at the time) was a navy pilot who after 6+ (?) years active duty, was still very active on weekends logging as many flight hours as he could manage (helicopters).

Our house was in an older, established very residential area and our street was a rather steep hill from top to bottom. We lived about halfway up.

My husband noticed something around the time we neared our house, that was in the sky seemingly at the top of the hill. Where our street ended, another street intersected where if you turned left, you continued on up the hill for some ways and very shortly you were in a quite rural area with farms, fields, etc.

So he slowly proceeded past our house on up the hill out of curiosity, not really saying much. The object was huge and hanging apparently close to ground, not moving. Not making any sound. I was a little excited, my heart was speeding up, but I said nothing. I was young and trusted my husband in most matters, where if there were cause for alarm, he would not approach this thing and furthermore, as a pilot and a military officer, I figured he probably would be able to figure out what it was, etc. So I hung in there.

We got to a sort of level part of the road, about a half a block long, and it seemed we were really close to the object by then and had a pretty clear view of it, and since it was not moving, we pulled over beside the road and either stopped or idled the car and just sat there and stared at it.

There was a thickly wooded area across the intersecting street which we could see well from where we were. But I couldn't figure out exactly how close the thing was to us or to the trees. The wooded area was a small zoo actually; it did not seem that the object would have much opportunity to hover or land within the zoo area because it was rough terrain on foot, hilly and bumpy, etc. and the whole zoo area itself was small.

The craft must have been just above the height of the trees, because the treetops did not obstruct any part of my view of it. At any rate, probably if I were someone more mature than I was at the time, I could have estimated how far away it was, etc. All I can say is that from where I viewed it, which was actually too close for my comfort, it was at least the size of 5-6+ school buses. It was a definite saucer shape and the overall color was a dull, non reflecting finish, maybe dull dark gray. But there were lovely bright orange round lights spaced around the rim of the saucer. They were not the type of lights that were giving off light, or beams, they were just sort of lit from within.

And, on the dome part of the saucer, that is the hump part that sat on top of the saucer, there were seemingly windows spaced all the way around (I assumed, couldn't see anything but the side I was facing). They were rather small, rectangular shaped windows that were white, that is they emanated a white glow from within, not as bright lights but same as the orange lights in being lit from within.

I was extremely curious at this point, wishing I could get a glimpse of something inside, but these "windows" did not seem to be like regular windows on a house, that is, for the purpose of seeing in and out of. They could have been just white lights or some other part of the craft that looked like windows to me. Because the white of the rectangles seemed more of a solid white, you could not see through it.

At any rate, I do not recall any of the lights blinking, although it is possible that the orange lights could have been. I don't think so, though.

My husband and I just sat there looking at it for maybe 15 minutes, maybe more, sort of waiting for it to do something, but it did not do anything at all. It just hung there silently. It was a very clear night. I can remember how clearly I could see the thing. The outline of the dark parts of it were clearly visible because of the many street lights in the area. I could not see the underside of the craft, though. After awhile, my husband decided it was not going to do anything and so we drove home.

I do not recall us ever talking about it and I forgot about it mostly, although I would recall it any time the expression UFO came up. I guess I just subconsciously decided that my husband probably had a good idea what it was, etc, but I had known him to be involved with military missions that were very secret and he could never discuss any part of them with me and of course I never pressed him on those matters.

If I was wrong (and looking back I think I probably was), and he really had no idea what it was and was maybe even frightened by it, he would not have let me know that either, for not wanting to scare me. At that time he was away a lot (50% of the time or more) and we had 2 toddlers, and I am sure he would not want me getting all hysterical over this idea, especially since he no doubt saw no threat.

I was not a news person at that time, did not read newspapers etc. But my husband did, and I am pretty sure he would have mentioned it if he had seen any articles about it. He would have looked for them.

And in spite of where the craft was, in the midst of such a residential area, it was an extremely quiet neighborhood, and it's very unlikely anyone who lived there but us, saw the thing. It does seem likely, though, that people driving by might well have seen it, as we did. The road that ran alongside the zoo was a somewhat busy street, that is, at least busier than the street our house was on. I suppose you would not really call it busy, though. People were almost never outside or even awake (with inside house lights on) past 10:30 pm or so, on our street and nearby streets. The majority of residents were older, many retired folks. This was probably around midnight, give or take. I did not see any signs that any of the people were up and about as we drove up the hill, nor would I have expected to at that hour.

At that time, we had not lived there very long, a year or so, and I was not very friendly with my neighbors yet, and I never discussed this with any of them or asked around to see if anyone had seen anything. At that point in time, probably those particular folks would have gotten a bad opinion of me if I had!

In reading through the NUFORC website, I noted many older reports such as this, and so I decided it must still be relevant after all these years, so here it is. At least it feels somewhat relieving to tell it to someone.

I will attempt a rough drawing of the craft and enclose a Binghamton area map marked with the location, to be sent via snail mail. This will take a little time.




NUFORC Note:

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


Posted 2008-03-04

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