2006-01-21 - Pe Ell, WA - Unknown

Brilliant blue light hovers and disappears near small forest town

While working in the industrial timber land surrounding Pe Ell, Washington, myself and another co-worker were sitting on logging landings at about 1500' looking for illegal activity on the timberland. At about 22:00 hours, I observed a blue, pulsing light begin to emit from the forest floor about 7 miles to my northeast, northeast of the town of Pe Ell. The light was low in intensity at first. However, the light then lifted off the ground to an alititude of about 600 feet off the forest floor. The light it was emitting became very brilliant and lit up a section of the forest below it in excess of .5-1 square mile. Using my binoculars, I could not make out what the light was being emitted by. The light faded from bright to dark, then back again. Then, the light simply stopped. Overall, the event lasted about 10-15 seconds.

I did not say anything over the radio to the other workers in the area. Soon, another worker asked if anyone else had seen the blue light. I answered up and we skeptically compared notes. We had observed the same event.

Fifteen minutes later, or around that amount of time, the light reappered in the sky and again began to flash a high intensity blue light. The light then moved quickly to the forest floor and through the trees the blue light could be seen, pulsing an amazing blue/white color. The light again disappeared after about 15 seconds. The other worker again witnessed the event.

Another 5-10 minutes went by and the light returned in the trees, although much dimmer this time. The light began to gain altitude, to about 1000 feet. The light flashed, then circled up into the night sky, flashed again, and was gone. The light circled counter-clockwise as it ascended. None of the other workers had seen the light and the two of us that did see the light have been taunted since, albeit very friendly, about how we must have been on some type of illicit drug that night.

Two days later, while stopping to get gas in the town of Pe Ell, I walked into the local convenience store. I struck up a conversation with the attendant and she told me the following, regarding some type of search and rescue operation: The night before, a hunter, in the woods south of Pe Ell, observed what he thought was a meteor hit the ground near his location. The meteor was not moving very fast as it descended. It hit the ground and began to emit a blue light. He got closer and the object began to flash a blue color. He left the area and called 911. Two deputies arrived, took his story, and proceeded to the area. They assessed the situation and called for backup after observing the flashing blue light.

A friend of mine called the dispatch center and asked what was going on. They advised a plane had crashed outside of Pe Ell, but they were very vague about it. Some type of search and rescue operation was underway. Access up the logging road was restricted to police only.