1980-08-12 - Bandon, OR - Disk

Father & son saw big glowing white disk approach thru clouds from S, depart thru clear sky to SW.

My father and I saw a glowing disk in the sky about 20 years ago. I was probably about 11 years old at the time. We were in Bandon, OR, visiting my grandparents, probably during summer vacation. It was probably not before 1978 and not after 1984. At the time there was an empty field behind (SW of) the house where my father and I were laying on a blanket watching a meteor shower, probably the Perseids, so it probably occurred on the night of August 11 or 12. It was perhaps an hour or two after sunset, around 10:00PM PDT. I think there was no moon, so I'm guessing that the year was 1980 based on star charts. It was breezy, and there were some low clouds to the S and SE, but most of the rest of the sky was clear. No precipitation. We saw what appeared to be a searchlight turn on, illuminating the clouds to the S, between 15 and 30 degrees above the horizon. No beam was visible. The illumination was moving N toward us, following a smooth arc toward the W. By the time the light reached the edge of the clouds it had slowed down slightly and was travelling approximately W. This was about 3 or 4 seconds after I had first noticed it. It was somewhere between 50 and 70 degrees above the horizon. At this point I was surprised (and very frightened!) to see a featureless glowing white disk emerge from the clouds. Apparently the clouds had been illuminated by this disk flying through or slightly above them, rather than by a ground-based searchlight. Not sure how high it was. The light had appeared slightly fuzzy as it moved through the clouds, but against the clear sky it was a definite disk with sharply defined edges. Not quite as bright as the full moon, and slightly smaller than two moons side by side. It looked solid (opaque). It continued on its smooth arc and flew off toward the SW, gaining speed and diminishing in brightness. The elapsed time from when it emerged from the clouds until it was no longer visible was about 2 or 3 seconds. We jumped up, hurried indoors and told our other family members about it. I was too scared to go outside again. There was no sound, no blinking. I don't recall any other air traffic in the area. There was nothing in the local paper the next day. I considered reporting it to MUFON at the time, but didn't, since we had no photos. Now I wish I had at least written it down because it's hard to remember details that long ago. Now my father only remembers "seeing something strange" that we were both "pretty excited about." I remember more detail than he does, maybe because I was so scared and because I considered reporting it and thought about how I would describe it. I'm finally reporting it to you now because I recently saw something else strange (reported to you 3/11/01), and was pleased to see 3 other reports of the same thing on your site. Better late than never, I hope! Background of the observers: I'm now a 32 year old software engineer with a B.S. in computer science and electrical engineering. My father has an M.S. in electrical engineering and is recently retired from the semiconductor manufacturing industry.

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