1978-12-25 - Cabo San Lucas (Mexico) - Fireball

I witnessed a very large glow in the sky which cannot be attributable to any known aircraft and which descended into the ocean.

While camping approximately six miles east of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on December 25, 1978 I witnessed a phenomenon at 9:30 PM Pacific Standard Time. Looking north, I saw a very large glow perhaps 2,000 feet above the mountains. These mountains were less than two miles away and my very first instinctive thought was that a 747 had exploded. In a few seconds I realized I was viewing something very extraordinary and tried to absorb details while yelling to other campers to wake up and see what I was watching.

A friend's sister and mother emerged and immediately pushed the children back in the VW bus they were camping in. One of them exclaimed it was a flying saucer--a thought I hadn't permitted myself to have. The large orange glow must have been between 100-300 feet in length. Within the elliptical glow were two smaller ellipses, perhaps one third of the way in from each side, which were brighter glows within the large orange glow and close to the color of a white florescent light. One of the two women with me said there were two saucers, but I felt and still feel there was only one huge structure because the two brighter glows within the large glow stayed perfectly parallel to each other as the large glow descended to my left at about a 35 degree angel.

I viewed this descent for about 45 seconds to a minute and a half. The glow disappeared behind a huge rock called Cabo Falso, about three quarters of a mile away. As the glow came closer to the top of Cabo Falso the brightness began to fade--alsmost as if it were burning out. There were no sparks, but the extremely bright glow grew much dimmer as it got close to the sea.

The next day I went to Cabo to find out if anyone else saw this light. I talked with five or six others who had seen it from an outdoor beach bar and they said the glow went into the ocean. Like myself, they were teachers enjoying a Christmas vacation. The next year I spoke with a lady named Elsa who was married to Harvey--a couple we camped with for about ten years. She told me that Harvey would not permit her to talk about it, but she had seen a large saucer hovering over brush not too far from where she was camped. The saucer then flew above the mountains where I first saw it. The next morning, Elsa told me, she examined the nearby brush and it had been burned a brown color by the saucer. Elsa and Harvey have both passed away--they were in their 70's in 1978.

I recall trying to listen if I could hear this glow, but the only identifiable sound was hundreds of coyotes howling from a mile or more away and beneath the glow. There was nothing surreal about the experience--it seemed natural. I thought at the time that all you had to do to see things like this is to spend a lot of time outdoors at night. I have seen strange lights on occasion since, but these have always been 20 or 30 miles away and not identifiable. The experience was the most memorable one of my life.