NUFORC Sighting 148907

Occurred: 2019-09-09 18:45 Local
Reported: 2019-09-18 10:53 Pacific
Duration: 10 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Lakewood, OH, USA

Shape: Cigar
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

Unknown object moving extremely fast through sky.

I would like to preface this account to state that everything happened so quickly that I can not say with complete certainty what I saw. The account below will be on the long side, but I am attempting to be clear in what I know for sure and what is a little hazy. The experience was very surprising and almost surreal. After thinking about the experience for the past week and talking with several people about it, I remain confident that what I saw is not explained by any object that I am aware of (bird, plane, helicopter, drone).

In the early evening of Tuesday, September 19, 2019, I was out for a walk with my five-year old son. We were outside in part because there were thousands of dragonflies in our front yard and the yards nearby. I have never seen anything like that. When I got home from work, I had noticed quite a few flying around. Over the next hour or so, they became more and more numerous. Around 6:30pm, I took my son outside to see them. We then went for a walk down to Lake Erie. As we were walking back to our house, I kept looking around at the dragonflies which were everywhere.

At 6:45pm (+/- 10 minutes), we were several hundred feet west of our house in a relatively open area. The sky was clear, with very few/no clouds. As I looked up in the sky, I saw a moving object in the south sky. I immediately noticed its very fast pace. I could not associate it with anything such as a plane, helicopter, or bird. My first thought was that it was a drone, based on its apparent size and distance away. We see small drones in the area from time to time, but they usually move somewhat erratically, slowly, and always seem to have blinking lights. As I tried to process what I was seeing, I realized that it was moving as if it was an arrow shot from a bow. There was absolutely no deviation from its course. I noticed no lights. The object appeared to me to be gray and elongated (in the direction of travel). I saw no exhaust or trails. I attempted to listen for a sound, but heard nothing discernible.

When I first spotted the object, it was slightly east of due south. It was traveling east/north-east. I would say that it was at an angle of approximately 20 degrees above the horizon. There was no obvious change in its elevation during the time that I saw it. I followed its path until it disappeared from my view just north of due east. There are condo towers east of my neighborhood. They are approximately thirty stories tall. I lost sight of the object when it passed the towers and my sight of it was blocked.

After it had passed, I tried to process what I had just seen. I sat down on a bench in our front yard with my son to continue watching the dragonflies. Approximately several minutes later (maybe more), I heard the noise of a large helicopter. Very soon a Chinook helicopter appeared from the east heading almost due west. We see one or often three Chinooks heading east or west out over Lake Erie (1000' north of our house) not infrequently. This one was probably less than 200' north of our house. I haven't seen one so close before. My son and I watched as it passed over, and I rushed to get my phone in camera mode. I was able to snap a photo of it when it was about to disappear behind some trees several hundred feet west of me.

Since seeing this, I have tried to figure out what it was that I saw. The speed that it was moving was much greater than anything that I have seen before. I have watched the International Space Station pass over, and this traveled across the sky much, much quicker. My best estimate is that it traveled about two miles during the time that I saw it (5-10 sec...I can't be sure).

Posted 2019-09-19