NUFORC Sighting 119440

Occurred: 2015-06-06 22:00 Local
Reported: 2015-06-09 17:59 Pacific
Duration: 20-30 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Arlington, WA, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object

10-11 orange lights seen on 06 June, 2015, @ 10 PM, in Arlington, WA.

On June 6, 2015, at 10:00 PM, in Arlington, WA, I got out of my car to pump some gas at the Safeway gas pumps in Smokey Point. As I turned north to walk behind my car, I saw several orange lights jump up into the sky very quickly, one after another. Each one popped up within a second or less after the one before it. I have photos of ten of them, but I think there was an 11th one that is not in the photo. It seemed like there was a straggler.

They stayed somewhat low above the horizon for about 30 seconds. (You can get a good idea of this in the photos.) I took a total of ten photos while they were in sight. Then they suddenly turned to the east, (they had been heading south towards me, and I was slightly to the west of them) and flew out of sight pretty quickly. There was no sound from them the entire time.

These lights were much brighter and bigger than any star and much smaller than the Moon. You can get a sense of this in the photos. I did not see any flashing lights, just steady, orange lights moving across the sky. They did not have any of the lights that a typical airplane would have.

I did consider the possibility that they could be Chinese lanterns. However, they moved much too quickly and with too much control for that to be the case. In my location, I wondered if they had taken off from the Arlington Airport, which is not a manned airport (it has automated landing). That could have been approximately where they took off from, because they looked reasonably close. However, they could also have taken off further north than that. The lights were bright enough to be seen from a good distance.

There was not a noticeable wind in the area at the time I saw this. I think Chinese lanterns would have stayed around much longer, even if there had been a strong wind.

When I expand the one photo of three lights, I can see the orange glow. It’s not real clear. I took the photos with my iPhone. However, you can get a sense of the color.




NUFORC Note:

We spoke via telephone with the witness, and we found her to be quite level-headed, and quite objective in her description of the sighting event. We suspect that she is a very reliable and capable witness. PD


Posted 2015-06-15

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