NUFORC Sighting 81071

Occurred: 1989-05-08 14:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2011-05-01 12:56 Pacific
Duration: 3-5 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Richmond, VA, USA

Shape: Cigar

Cigar shaped object hovered, moved slowly for a short distance, then disappeared in a moment.

In the mid to late afternoon on or near the date, May 8, 1989, on S. Laurel Street in Richmond, Virginia, I observed the following. (I recall it being in the mid-spring, and I remember it being a Tuesday, however as it has been so many years I may be off by up to one year. i.e. I lived at that address for one whole year.) As I walked due south on Laurel Street from Carey Street towards my home I noticed a slightly shiny object hovering over the pyramid in Hollywood cemetery. The pyramid is about 90 feet tall; therefore I estimated the object to be hovering at about 120 feet. Since I knew I was only 3 blocks from the pyramid I estimated the object to be about 20-30 feet long and about 8-10 feet tall. The width of the object was not easily estimable but the cigar shape it appeared to have indicated it may have been about 10 feet wide at most. It hovered silently. A cigar shaped object with no lights or windows visible and a finish that looked similar to “brushed steel”, with a slight grain or texture to the entire craft. It seemed to have a pointed end and a slightly rounder end.

As I stopped and stared, it began to move south in a straight path with no altitude change, towards the river which was less than a mile away, and near my home. I walked at the same pace as it moved while it continued the south, slowly and silently. Then it stopped and appeared to open a window or peephole on the side facing me. (It was on my right) It picked up speed, as if changing from one gear to the next instantly. I began running to keep up with it and proceeded to seemingly keep up for two or three blocks, so it was still only going a few miles per hour. Then in an instant, right before it was over the riverbank, it made an angled right turn which turned it about 20-30 degrees to the right (west) and about the same angle in increased elevation while accelerating as a rate I would estimate to be thousands of miles per hour. Poof! Gone in a second or less. I would often describe the angle and acceleration as “impossible”.

In conclusion I would like to add that I made a few calls to the weather services, NASA, and other agencies in and around Virginia and Washington, D.C. attempting to find out more or report the incident and ran into a brick wall. More than once I was told to “just drop it”. At times I assumed it was some military test flight, but in the twenty years since it happened, nothing like it has been produced by our military so I have begun to rethink it.

I would describe myself at the time as a college student attending Virginia Commonwealth University. The campus is only a few blocks from the location of the sighting. I was about 23 years old. Again, I may have the date off by as many as twelve months as I lived on Laurel Street from September of 1988-June 1989.

I studied communications, computer science and philosophy. I have never before or since experienced anything like what I observed that day when I was walking home from class.

NUFORC Note:

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

Posted 2011-05-02