NUFORC Sighting 76917

Occurred: 1977-07-04 22:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2010-07-31 17:52 Pacific
Duration: 20 minutes
No of observers: 0

Location: Federal Way, WA, USA

Shape: Circle
Characteristics: Lights on object

Close sighting, able to see bottom of craft well, hovered for at least 15 minutes just at the top of the poplar trees

This was either 1976 or 1977, I can't remember exactly, I was quite young at the time.

It was our annual neighborhood 4th of July party at the end of the dead end street. A forested area surrounded the end of the street. I was sitting in a lawn chair watching fireworks down on the street (the neighbors yard was up on a small hill), when I noticed something coming across the sky from the east. I knew it was far too high to be a firework, and the object was getting brighter as it got closer. It was coming what I perceived as slowly, so at first I thought it was some kind of air plane. I was just surprised at how bright it was getting and close to be a small plane, since it was too close to be a commercial jet. I don't really remember much sound either, no engine sounds for sure. When it finally reached us, I saw it was a circular craft. It hovered right above the poplar trees at the end of the street where we were all gathered! Amazing, I was really amazed since my father watched Star Trek and being so young I was thinking it was something from the show....I could see the bottom of it, it hovered there with a very quiet sound, a quiet humming but not like any engine I had ever heard(boat,plane,car,tractor, ect). It had different color lights on the edges on the bottom. The lights circled around the perimeter of the bottom at equal distances. It hovered there for at least 15 minutes that I can remember. It was close. I'm not good at estimating size, but I have a Ford F250 now, and you could fit three of them in the diameter of this craft easily. The most amazing thing was its departure. This is when reality hit me that this was not something from TV, even though I was only 6 or 7 years old. It started to ascend upward, somewhat slowly, but then suddenly it just shot extremely fast straight up above the earth, and became just visible like a small star within just a few seconds, and then I totally lost view of it. I have never seen or heard of any mechanical thing moving this fast in my life ever since I saw that.

NUFORC Note:

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

Posted 2010-08-24