1986-05-01 - Jefferson, CO - Sphere

Red sphere low to the ground moving slowly and erratically.

I have made this report several times at a few websites and I decided to make it into a works file so I can paste it instead of rewriting it. I am not sure of the year or month but I think it was either spring or fall in the mid 80s. Anyway there was a small amount of snow on the ground and we were near Jefferson Colorado. There is a road that runs from Jefferson past Tarryall reservoir and we were camping a few miles from the lake. It was just before sundown and my wife saw a red ball down low to the north of our camp. It was to the north east at first and it was traveling east. It came across us to the north about 1\4 to 1\2 mile away. it took about 5 to 10 minutes to travel by and disappear behind a mountain that was to the north east of us. It appeared to be pretty big (100 ft dia) but it was hard to tell because of the distance it was from us. I remember thinking that I wished it would come closer so we could see it. A little while later it came around the mountain it had disappeared behind. It was coming back towards the west on the south side of camp. This time it was only about 75 yards away!!! It was 300 feet in dia (approx) and it stopped directly to the south of us and hovered with its bottom side only about 50 feet off of the ground. It was bright orange about the color of metal that is 1600 degrees or so. I know what temperatures look like from working with tool steels and furnaces. Anyway I’m not saying that it was hot but that is what it looked like. It hovered there still and totally silent for what seemed to be a few minutes and then it went away from us so fast that it traveled about 35 miles in a split second and was bouncing erratically over the mountains to the south west of us. I looked at a map and the distance is a estimate from what I saw that night. Since then I have remembered a little more about that night and I think that it was more than a few minutes that it was hovering and that we just didn’t realize the time. There were four of us and we all saw the same thing through the whole experience. Three of us had drank a few beers but one had not ever drank any alcohol in her life. we were all in our late twenties or early thirties. I know this is an old report but I think it is important to be posted. Thank you...