NUFORC Sighting 43204

Occurred: 1967-03-01 19:30 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2005-03-27 20:59 Pacific
Duration: 2 seconds
No of observers: 2

Location: Whittier, CA, USA

Shape: Oval
Characteristics: Lights on object

Two observers witnessed 500-foot long oval craft with lighted porthole windows flying low over Whittier.

A good friend of mine who I have known for 10 years, recently told me about a UFO he saw in 1967. Since he is an artist, I asked him to draw me a picture of the UFO, which he did, and which he gave me permission to post, and which is attached here.

Here is the story as related to me by him on Sept. 9, 2004. (Bear in mind, this incident occured about 37 years ago!): My friend was living in Whittier, California in early Spring, 1967 (approximate date). He was with his wife over at a co-worker's house for dinner, and after dinner he and his co-worker went out on the patio of the house in Whittier, and they were standing there, leaning back slightly, at about 7:00 pm - 7:30 pm, (it was dark out) and they were talking about work. He and his co-worker were both electricians, and they had been working together that day. Their wives were in the house at the time.

As they were on the patio, the UFO (depicted in the drawing) flew by, going from south to north, approximately as depicted. It was travelling at approximately 100 mph to 200 mph, at a steady, uniform speed, and was totally silent. (No engine noise. No noise at all.) It was in the view of both of these gentlemen for approximately two seconds. It was approximately 500 feet long, approximately 100 feet diameter. There were hundreds of windows, or port holes, approximately as shown, which were approximately 3 feet in diameter and approximatley 10 feet apart (10 feet spacing). The windows, or port holes, were filled with bright white light. The UFO was travelling approximately 100 to 125 feet above the ground. It was approximately 150 feet away from these two observers.

It was dark out, but my friend got the impression that the UFO was silver in color, although he is not sure about that. He was close enough to the UFO that he would have been able to see "passengers" in the windows, or port holes, if there had been any "passengers". No "passengers" were observed in the windows or port holes; only bright white light. Both individual witnesses observed the craft as described. Immediately they went inside the house to tell their wives what they had just witnessed and to report the UFO to the Air Force, or to the police. However, when they went in the house they observed on television at the time was a news story about some kids who had released helium balloons with Aluminum-foil attached earlier that morning near Griffith Park, and it created a big traffic jam on the Golden State freeway, and many people had reported this as UFOs. As a result, my friend and his co-worker decided not to report the UFO because, in view of the news story on television about the kids' balloons and the resultant UFO reports regarding the balloons, because he and his co-worker decided that their report would probably not be taken seriously.

He remarked that the general shape of the UFO was that of a blimp, however in every other respect (speed, size, silence, hundreds of brightly lit windows, etc.) it was definitely not a blimp, or any other kind of conventional craft; it was a "UFO".

All of the data above about this incident (size, distance, speed, location, etc.), which occured in 1967, was provided to me by my friend - in response to my questions - on Sept. 9, 2004, (~37 years after the event) and are approximate only, and are "ball-park" estimates given to me by him. So, if the sketch does not agree exactly with the dimensions provided, this is why. (Also, I would like to add that -in my opinion - memories of short duration of significant events that happened a long time ago can still be somewhat accurately remembered. For example, did you ever break a neighbor's window as a kid with a baseball? Can you still see the baseball shattering the glass?) **************************** Something bothers me about all of this: I cannot understand "helium balloons with Aluminum-foil attached, released by kids", causing a major jam-up on the freeway, UFO reports, and major news coverage!!! Here is what I speculate: There was major UFO activity in that general area (southern California) that day.

The UFOs were reported, and the UFO sightings caused a major jam-up on the freeways.

Disinformation was then released by the government in the form of a fictitious "made-up" story about kids with balloons and Aluminum foil (similar to other fictitious reports released by the government regarding "weather balloons" and "swamp gas").

The UFO seen by by friend and his co-worker may have been related to the other UFOs reported earlier in that same day.

And, there may have been others who sighted it who did not report it for similar reasons to my friend and his co-worker not reporting it! (I doubt that this was an experimental military craft; why would it be flying so low over a heavily populated area?! Experimental military craft are usually tested out over the desert, or ocean, away from people.) (As I have stated, this is just my speculation.) So, I would like to ask these questions: 1. Has anyone ever seen a UFO with characteristics similar to this, anywhere? 2. Does anyone know anything about news stories of UFO reports in 1967 near Griffith Park (in southern California) causing traffic jams on the Golden State freeway? (There have been many thousands of UFO reports throughout the past half-century or more, but this one seems to be a little bit different!)



NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that date of sighting is approximate. PD


Posted 2005-04-16

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