1969-08-15 - Lamont, CA - Formation

9 to 13 objects in "V" formation travelling about 100 mi per second graze ionosphere.

I have listened to Peter Davinport on the air several times with both Art Bell and George Noory. After hearing him again with Art over the last weekend, Peter said that only 10% of sightings get reported, so I have decided to report a sighting from 1969 to add to your data base. This sighting has never before been reported by me, but there were other witnesses to the event. I will give details as I remember them.

I was 14 yrs. Old and lived in a small town called Lamont just southeast of Bakersfield, CA. I don’t remember the exact date, but it was a warm August evening, around 10:00pm, and the skies were very clear. I was with my best friend and we were in his back yard. He was talking to his girl friend, which lived next door to him, through her bedroom window as she was not able to come out and visit with us. Not wanting to eves drop on his conversation, I was walking around his back yard staring up at all the brilliant stars in the sky. I was looking northeast when all of a sudden I saw approximately 9 to 13 objects that looked like falling stars enter the earth’s atmosphere or ionosphere. These objects were flying in a perfect "V" formation (I'd be happy to send you a crude drawing). I actually saw them enter the ionosphere at what I guess was approximately just west of Las Vegas, fly true north to south and then watched them exit the ionosphere at what I guess was approximately over San Diego. This took about 4 to 5 seconds to travel that distance (approx 400mi). The objects made absolutely no sound, not even a sonic boom, and remained in perfect formation the entire time we viewed them. I say we, because as soon as I saw them, I hollered at my friend to look, and he caught them about mid way through the sighting. If you hold your arm out at length, the “>” encompassed about the length of your thumb from one end of the wing to the other. They were individual objects because I could see stars in between them as they crossed the sky. I couldn't see any lights on them, as they were too high up, but they glowed red hot and had long fiery tails with short smoke trails following the fire, very similar to meteors entering the atmosphere. They just entered the ionosphere, flew across the sky never breaking or veering at all from formation, and left the ionosphere just as easily as they entered. This sighting scared me because I couldn’t explain what I had just seen, so I ran in the house covered in goose bumps. My f! riend stayed out a while longer talking to his girl friend. He came in and told me another set of them flew by after I went in. 10 years later, while talking with a fellow musician up in Lake Arrowhead, the subject of UFO’s came up. I asked him to explain what he had seen, and he described the same thing I saw, the same month of the same year. We assumed it had to be the same objects because his description matched mine perfectly. He was in Whittier, CA when he saw them. Whittier is about 100 miles south of Bakersfield. We both remarked that we just happened to be looking up at the sky during those few seconds, and anyone else who may have been looking up at that particular time could not have missed them. It’s also sort of interesting at how this event affected both my friend and me. I got so excited, I started reading all about UFO’s and talked to everyone I could about them. My friend clammed up and wouldn’t talk to anyone about it, I think for fear of being called a kook. I have never had another personal sighting, although I look up at the skies whenever I can in hopes of seeing something again. Thank you for being an outlet for all of us who have had sightings. It’s a validation for us.

((NUFORC Note: Date is approximate. We at NUFORC estimate that the number of legitimate sightings of UFO's that get reported to anyone is probably ONE PERCENT, or less, not ten percent, and the witness suggests above. PD))

((NUFORC Note: Date is approximate. PD))