NUFORC Sighting 162383

Occurred: 1956-06-15 09:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2021-03-16 12:54 Pacific
Duration: 20 minutes
No of observers: 5

Location: Dove Creek, CO, USA

Shape: Cigar
Characteristics: Emitted other objects, Changed Colo

Cigar-shaped UFO with small UFOs coming out of it that perform amazing aeronautics.

Background Just before Christmas in 1955, when I was seven-years-old, my family moved from a uranium mining camp located on the Dolores River, some 24 miles north of Dove Creek, Colorado, relocating to Moab, Utah.

My Dad told me that most of the guys that worked at the mine were veterans from WWII, but they didn’t talk about the war. One of them gave me a large model of a navy destroyer, one that matched the ship he had served on. Audie Murphy had just appeared in "To Hell and Back," and we went to the drive-in at Cortez, Colorado to see the movie. These facts would be important to my perception of what was to happen.

In June 1956, my parents took me back to Colorado, where I spent a week at the home of my friend, Frankie. We ran all over the hills, playing and when it rained, we did our best to catch a rainbow to see if there really was a pot of gold. No matter how fast we went, the end of the rainbow kept ahead of us. On Friday, my parents drove to Colorado to pick me up and to take Frankie back to Moab. Our elementary school was in Egnar (Range spelled backwards) surrounded by farms, many of which were bean fields. It was after work on Friday when my parents drove to Colorado and it was dark by the time we headed back toward Moab, probably 9 pm or later.

What We Saw As we headed west on Highway 491 maybe a mile or two east of the Colorado-Utah border, my Mom spotted what appeared to be a bright light on the north side of the highway, lighting up the field below it. She asked Frankie, "Why do they have lights in the bean fields?" He assured her that they didn’t do that. The light was very bright and looked like it was just high enough to be at the top of a light pole.

While the road was level, there was a small embankment of varying heights between the road and the fields to the north. As we drove closer to the light, it was obscured now and then by the high spots of the embankment. When we got to the point that the light was directly to the north of us, the bright light shot directly up into the sky, stopping at a level that might have been 300 or so feet above the ground.

When we first saw it from a distance, the light looked like a round spot. When we drove up to it, it was not round at all. It was shaped like a long cigar, with rounded ends. My Dad pulled the car over and we parked at the side of the road to watch the light. It was a bright bluish-white. Because of the distance we were away, it was difficult to say exactly how long it was, maybe 100 feet or so.

As we watched, several smaller round lights came out of the west (left) end of ship, maybe 8-10 or so. They lined up under the main ship, in a line parallel to it. The exception was the 2nd or 3rd light, that was out of line, maybe 10 to 20 feet below the rest. Then, a larger, brighter round light came out of the main ship. As it went under the line of smaller lights, the one that was out of line moved up to the line, putting them all into a straight line. I observed at the time that the bigger ship was acting like a drill sergeant and the lights were the trainees. He was there to get them into shape and keep them in line. (My perspective came from the Audie Murphy movie, I suspect.) Then, they put on a show of dazzling aeronautics that was wonderful. Each “trainee” would shoot directly toward the ground and make a 90-degree turn just above the ground, go about 100-200 feet then shoot directly upward, and then back to the line where it had started. Some took diagonal courses, but most were 90-degree course changes. They did not slow as they made the corners. They were very, very fast.

We had been to the drive-in movie in Cortez several times, including To Hell and Back and my favorite, Davy Crockett. There were times when the movie screen went dark and we were invited to visit the snack bar for over-priced food. Many cars in the 1950’s had spotlights. During the time when the screen was black, a number of drivers would shine their spotlights on the screen and play tag with each other. The spotlights dashed right to left, up and down, and every direction, without accelerating or slowing when they made a “corner.” That is a perfect comparison to what we were seeing in the sky that night.

There were two differences though. First, when the lights took off or made corners, they would change from blue to a yellowish, almost orange color, then back to blue as they sped straight ahead. Second, they made a humming sound that we could hear, though we were maybe 100 yards away from them.

I recognized that sound. When Frankie and I were out playing on the fields that week, I heard a low humming sound. As we got closer to the high-power lines crossing the fields, it was obvious that they were the source of the hum. The small lights made the same humming sound as they did their “training exercises.” We watched the “show” for maybe 15 minutes. My little sister, aged 6, was totally silent. Frankie was shaken and began to cry. My Mom assured him that we were safe. The objects didn’t do anything to acknowledge that we were watching and had made no moves toward us. Frankie stopped crying, but wasn’t certain we were safe.

The end of the show came when all of the lights ended their training and the all headed directly north as a small company of recruits, led by a sergeant and the main ship. My Dad said, “We need to tell someone before they get away!” and drove west to the Highway Patrol Weigh Station, just a few minutes away. When we got there, we got the trooper to come out and look. By then, the lights were so far away that they were lost among the stars and their motion was not obvious. He couldn’t see them.

Then What? When we got back home to Moab, we told everyone. Dad was called “flying saucer boy” at work and soon learned to keep his mouth shut. It was summer, so I couldn’t tell my schoolmates. Frankie didn’t want to talk about it.

Life went on. We never saw anything like it again, even though we often searched the skies for moving lights.

I'm 72 now and that is the long version of our short experience.



Posted 2021-03-31

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