1993-12-23 - Castaic Junction, CA - Oval

Update for report of sighting on 12/02/93

This is an update to a previous report. The main change is the date. Please revise date from 12/20/93 to 12/23/93.

Date of sighting: Thursday, December 23, 1993 - approximately noon Location of sighting: Valencia, CA @ hilltop near I-5 and 126 interchange (34° 26' 50N" Latitude 118° 36' 10W" Longitude) I only have one sighting to share but it has kept me thinking for many years now. I think a sighting can be very informative if the observer notes not only what was seen but also the circumstances under which it was seen. I used to work for an amusement park in Valencia, California called Six Flags Magic Mountain. I was a senior in high school at the time and worked the summers, weekends, and holidays. This week the forecast called for thunderstorms and a high probability showers. It was only a few more days before Christmas and one of those days when I knew the park would be empty.

That day I was on my lunch break when I sat in my usual quiet spot not far from where Batman the Ride would later be built. It overlooked our employee facilities in the foreground and the intersection of the I-5 freeway (north/south) and the 126 (east/west) in the distance. My view was to the east and toward a small range of mountains on the other side of the I-5. The mtn peak is about 200 feet above the I-5 freeway. At its base now sits an extension to the Valencia Industrial Center and the northbound I-5 to 126 off-ramp. On the other side of this mtn range is a field of gas wells in what is called the Honor Rancho Plant (owned and operated by Southern California Gas Company).

At lunchtime there was a thunderstorm moving from north to south. It had already passed where I was but I could still see the lightning in the distance and the sky was entirely overcast. About 15 minutes after I sat down I had finished what I was eating and looked out at the freeway, at the range beyond, and then to the clouds. I was just passing the time I had away from my work when I saw something moving in the lower layer of the cloud formations. It was situated across the freeway and just above the mtn range (about 100 ft above the hill's peak). At first I thought it was a shadow. As it came into clearer view I thought maybe it was a helicopter even though I didn't see a tail and its shape wasn't quite the same. It was in nearly zero visibility because of the clouds and was inching southward (left to right), much slower than the clouds around it. This is probably why it caught my eye. It was a grayish tone (maybe metallic), elliptical in shape with the long axis parallel to the horizon line, about 25ft in width, 12ft in height, and had no distinguishing extrusions. If it had any markings on its surface I couldn't see them from this distance (1.4 miles). Patches of cloud would make it appear and disappear over what was to be 2-3 minutes. I watched almost unblinking at what I couldn't identify. I might add that the only sounds I heard included a light thundering to the south and the hum of the traffic on the I-5. I would normally have also heard the occasional yell from someone on a ride some distance away, but because today was a few days before Christmas the park was virtually empty. Then at one point clouds passed in front of it, obscuring it completely. I thought I'd lost it, but I kept watching. 15-20 seconds later it reappeared the cloud having passed it. Now it was clearer than ever and it hadn't hardly moved. I still couldn't see any detail and my mind was a blank as to what this object could possibly be. It was kind of small to be a blimp and kind of big to be a balloon but I guess it could ha! ve been one or the other. Then it did something no blimp or balloon I've ever seen could do.

After 2-3 minutes, the object shot up into the clouds instantaneously, like it had been attached to some long extended rubber band that I couldn't see. The speed was so fast (and the fact that the object was already nearly engulfed by the clouds surrounding it) that, had I blinked, I would have certainly missed this last maneuver. There was no deformation in the object that I noticed in the 2-3 minutes that I watched it. What I did see however was the deformation of the misty cloud as the movement of air suddenly displaced it. This was the one key piece of information that convinced me what I saw was actually there. A fraction of a second before the object lurched upward I also saw it drop ever so slightly like it was "changing gears" or transitioning from one mode of operation to another. The speed of the final maneuver convinced me that what I was dealing with was not a object of any kind I had ever seen and I thought this maneuver was the last of this sighting and that I'd never see anything this unusual again. I was wrong.

I immediately looked at my watch hoping to record the exact date and time of the sighting, but all I could manage to remember was the placement of the second hand and only for a moment at that. This is why. I continued to look in awe over the freeway for some hope of an answer. Then, about 10-15 seconds after the object had shot into the clouds, a small bolt of lightning that I couldn't hear at that distance struck EXACTLY where the object (above the hill's peak) had been situated. I was sure this was no coincidence and I've thought about this sighting (the only sighting I've ever had) for years.

((NUFORC Note: We have no prior report for Castaic Junction for December 1993, or a report from the same witness. We are somewhat confused by the witness' request, but we assume the alleged event occurred on December 23, 1993. We have amended the date here. PD))