NUFORC Sighting 43624

Occurred: 2005-04-11 21:54 Local
Reported: 2005-04-24 21:06 Pacific
Duration: 1 minute
No of observers: 1

Location: Island Pond, VT, USA

Shape: Cylinder
Characteristics: Lights on object

300ft cylinder moving east to west. White lights in front, blinking red lights on tail.

I was home on the night of April 11, 2005 watching a PBS tv special about the laying of the trans-atlantic telegraph cable. I was sitting in a chair next to a large picture window that faces directly south. The only lights on inside the house were a small night light in the bathroom and the light from the television set.

From the corner of my eye I saw a bright light outside which emerged slowly from behind some trees on the east side of my house. The time was 9:54pm. The light appeared to be a cluster of bright (prismatic) white lights which was immediately trailed by a long, very dark space and then there was a small cluster of blinking reddish lights. My first impression was that the cluster of reddish lights was an airplane chasing the white lights.

I ran outside to my porch and watched this object move slowly, perhaps 100-150mph, from east to west. The sighting was at least a full minute. It very soon became apparent that this was not two objects but one. The white lights in the front were trailed by a long, dark, unlighted structure that blotted out the stars as it passed. It was a bright, starry night with a crescent moon low on the northwestern horizon; the moon was below the treeline behind the house.

The trailing cluster of blinking, reddish lights followed in perfect, attached unison to the white lights and the unlighted structure, never moving closer or further away. My best estimate of the size of this object (seen from the side) is about 300ft. The object passed about 1000-1500ft from me and passed over the hill behind my house with about 200ft of clearance. The hill's elevation is 1900 ft, my house is about 200ft below that.

The object passed directly east to west over the southern portion of my 11 acre, heavily wooded, hillside lot. The area I live in is sparsely populated with few paved roads and no streetlights. The lights of the local village are visible in the valley below my home, about four miles away to the northeast. Only half of the village is visible due to intervening hills.

As the object passed my home I heard what I took to be a freight train passing through the village, this is a frequent and familiar sound. I did not equate this sound with the presence of the object which did not seem to make any sound at all.

For the record: I have ten years of military experience with the US Air Force and US Air Force Reserves. My service was spent working on and flying in military aircraft (not as a pilot). I am familiar with military aircraft and helicopters

Posted 2005-05-11

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