NUFORC Sighting 53114

Occurred: 1998-07-10 17:30 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2006-10-27 16:19 Pacific
Duration: less than 5 seconds
No of observers: 2

Location: Arnold, MO, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object

Bright ball of light appears briefly in suburban St. Louis

We were visiting my in-laws before we moved to the area. We were driving our car north/west-bound on Miller Road on our way to dinner. It was 5:30-6:00 on a sunny day. There were cars ahead of and behind us, but not what I'd call heavy traffic. Miller Road is very hilly, and you find yourself either staring into the sky or at the ground as you go up and down the hills. We were getting some glare on the windshield from the late afternoon sun as we crested the hills.

As we reached the top of one hill, a brilliant ball of light appeared for a second or two in front of us and off to the left. It seemed to hover breifly, and then was gone. I muttered "What the hell was that?" to no one in particular - my wife and two older children heard this. I turned to my older daughter (11 at the time) who was sitting in the front passenger seat, and as if on cue she said "I don't know Dad". Iasked her what she saw, and she again said she didn't know - but added "It looked like a big ball of light". My wife, 8 y.o. son and 3 y.o. daughter were all in the back seat, and didn't see anything - at least they didn't make any comment.

About this time, a car had caught up with us, and honked at me to go. I had come to a complete stop in the middle of the road! None of the other cars I could see gave any indication that they had seen anything - they all just kept driving. I blew this incident off at the time, and my daughter and I never talked bout it afterwards. However it never seemed right, and it still bothers me. I am an engineer by vocation, and can rationalize almost everything. However this is something I have never been able to explain to myself. I'd be the first to admit it was glare off the windshield, except what I saw was off to the east side of the road.





((CORRESPONDENCE WITH WITNESS))

Dear Mr. ((name deleted)),

Thank you very much for the excellent report!!

A question, if I may... You state that you were driving to the northwest, approximately, and that the flash of light was to your left, would that ot have been in the western sky. I believe you state that the object would have to have been east of the road. I am confused by that apparent contradiction. Is there something I don't understand about the event?

Thanks, again, for the interesting report! Do you think that you might be able to pin down the precise date of the incident, if you were to think about it for a while?

Also, may I pass your report along to some skilled UFO investigators in Missouri? I think they would like to know about the event.

Cordially,

Peter Davenport, Director
National UFO Reporting Center


((RESPONSE))

...After the above "wool-gathering", I still can't say for sure, but 7/10/98 would appear to be the most likely candidate. That is about as precise as I can make it. The date I entered on my submission was a random approximation.

((END))



NUFORC Note:

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


Posted 2006-10-30

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