Occurred: 2012-08-04 22:10 Local
Reported: 2012-08-05 14:23 Pacific
Duration: 5-10 minutes
No of observers: 4

Location: Hickory, NC, USA

Shape: Orb
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object

Orange/Red lights seen over Catawba/Burke County NC

08/05/12 Sighting: Approximately 10:10pm on 08/04/12 Location: Hickory, NC I was home alone watching television in my basement room last night and my wife and children were on their way back home from a theatre performance. At approximately 10:10 pm my wife busts through the kitchen door and yells at me to come outside immediately to see these "strange lights" in the sky. It took me a minute to realize what she was even talking about, and I asked her to wait a moment so that I could grab our Sony video camera. I don’t know why I thought to grab the camera other than I know my wife well enough to have seen how obviously amazed she was at what she had witnessed. She stated that as she was coming down our street and approached the stop sign at the top of our street she witnessed three red lights in the sky to her left as she was driving north. She said she did a double take and at first thought they were lanterns, but then realized they were too high in the sky.

We proceeded outside into our driveway and she pointed to the sky in a SW direction from our home. At first I wasn’t sure what I was seeing and it took a minute to gather myself. I saw three orange/red orbs in the sky. They were moving in a northerly pattern across the western sky. They were moving in a triangular formation, and unfortunately, the lead orb vanished before I could get my video camera on. Once the camera was on I focused on the two remaining objects. They proceeded in a stacked formation across the night sky, but made no obvious sound.

I have lived nearby and visited many military bases my entire life and have served in the Navy at NAS Norfolk, so I feel relatively comfortable distinguishing jet aircraft in the sky, even at night. I live near a small local airport, and can hear planes and jets taking off and landing from my home. There was no such noise. I did hear the sound of a jet engine to my rear, but it was nowhere near the objects and soon dissipated. I have also seen enough programs regarding UFO sighting and debunking to know that a reference point is important, so I made sure to include my homes trees in the lower portion of the video I was taking.

What struck me most about the objects was the lack of sound and the fact that the light they were emitting was constant, not blinking, as you would typically see in a commercial or military aircraft. In addition, they were way too bright and large in reference to our location for us to have not heard the engines, assuming they were jet aircraft. We watched the objects move across the sky for approximately 45 seconds, at which point they were obstructed by the rather large oak trees in my backyard. My wife and children were still in the driveway in her vehicle, so I had them drive me to the next clear vantage point, which was just next door, approximately 50-60 feet. I tried to focus on the objects, but could not get the camera to focus due to ambient light coming from a streetlight directly to my rear. In the second video I shot you can still make out the orbs moving at approximately the same speed in a north/northwest direction.

At this point, I was more concerned with getting what I was seeing on camera than I was with continuing to watch it with my naked eye, so I hopped in the van with my wife and kids and had her drive me to the next clearer and darker part of my street. This was approximately 50-60 yards down my street from my home. I jumped out, focused the camera, and remember asking my wife to turn off the headlights on her van. Shortly after starting the third video, I saw the lower light in the formation “bug out” in a northwesterly direction at a ridiculous speed. This can be seen in the video footage. I was shocked at how quickly it disappeared, but kept my camera focused on the remaining orb and closed in on it with my zoom lens.

I want to be clear at this point that I was using a Sony Handycam, with a Carl Zeiss lens and HD resolution, not a camera phone. What I saw next was the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed. My family and I saw the object begin to change shape in the sky. It didn’t elongate or anything, it just seemed to change its exterior. In my video footage, you can see it very clearly as it appears to transition between pointy in one direction to round in another. I can only describe it as looking like a child’s “top” spinning in the sky, but the point moves from bottom to top to side. The shape was rounded on edges at time, and you can hear my wife in the background saying she sees the same thing I am witnessing with my camera. Almost as soon as my wife said she could see it too it also disappeared just as the previous orb had. Then entire encounter lasted approximately 5 minutes. I returned outside periodically during the night, but saw nothing unusual in the sky.

I am neither a UFO expert nor an aircraft expert, so I am not claiming 100% that what we saw was a UFO, but I do know that I have never in my life seen objects maneuvering in the sky the way these objects did. I have never seen a "UFO" before, but I am convinced that is what I saw until someone can prove me wrong. This phenomenon was witnessed by my wife, both my children, and myself, and as I write this the next afternoon after the sighting, I am still not sure if I’m excited, scared, or amazed.. perhaps all three. I look forward to hearing from someone from your organization. Thank you.

PS--I will forward the video footage by email if possible, if not I will mail it to you.




NUFORC Note:

We spoke via telephone with this witness, on the day after his sighting, and he sounded to us to be exceptionally serious-minded and eloquent. We suspect that he is an unusually good witness. PD


Posted 2012-08-05

© 2023 National UFO Reporting Center. All rights reserved. Use or reproduction within any application without written consent is prohibited.