2008-01-08 - Stephenville, TX - Oval

Summary of Radio news coverage for Stephenville, TX, sightings 1-8-08.

Hello Mr Davenport, I am a former CBS reporter that is living near Dallas, TX, and not too far from Stephenville, TX, where, as you know there was a very dramatic sighting. (I actually did a report for you a couple of years ago about a sighting I personally had in Amityville, NY that was very clear).

I did not see the incident myself. But I thought you would enjoy a compliation of what has been reported on mainstream media about this since it is getting a lot of coverage from both radio and TV stations in this area. KRLD radio has had comments about this incident in almost every newscast since the 8th and has reported that they had a flood of calls about it. WBAP has been discussing it also, and there have been several TV News reports (I no longer get tv/ cable service, so I cannot tell you as definitively about that coverage, only what has been on radio and websites.) I have compiled the following details from the news reports over the last week that were not mentioned in the report on your front page. These notes are taken from several news reports over the last week (1-8-08 until today 1-15-08). Many talk shows have been encouraging callers to call into their stations. (KRLD news dedicated 2 hours to this topic today – and had several credible witnesses including a pilot and a Constable who witnessed the event.) Many others, including a fire fighter, and other police officers reported seeing the object (and several others).

Witnesses have been describing the object as being either a dark brown, black or a grey color ranging from a white to dark grey. It is possible that it may have been changing color, or to have had different colors on different sides of the object because witnesses even in the same location disagreed about the exact colors.

All witnesses agreed that there were orange lights on the object, but reports of white, red and yellow have come out as well. All reports agreed that the lights were numerous, very bright and flashing or changing. Several witnesses described something that could have been flames, and one person heard on KRLD said that she believed the object had “dropped” something behind it that appeared to be on fire. Most witnesses said the lights were moving or changing position Some reports have said there may have been a smaller second object, but the majority has said one. The size largest size estimates described the object from ½ mile wide and 1 mile long, the smallest I have heard said “bigger than a football field” It was estimated to be flying at about 300 feet.

All agree that the object was smooth on the outside (no wings, no tail or protrusions of any kind) with a shiny surface, but again the color is in debate – All reports agreed that the object had a somewhat cylinder or oval shape to it.

The Joint Reserve Naval Air Base is not far from Ft. Worth which does have significant flight activity, however their first response was that they had no knowledge of any aircraft in the air at that time. There are some witnesses who spotted military planes in the area after the object had been spotted; some say there were chasing the object.

The next day there was a statement denying that the military had launched any planes at all. Monday the naval base reported that this was “probably an illusion created by two commercial planes in proximity,” and again denied that they had launched any of their planes in response to this object.

There is a small airport just outside of Stephenville, however it is a small private airport which does not have capacity for anything larger than a twin engine plane. The closest airports that could have ability to land a commercial jet would be Dallas Love Field, 110 miles away from the sighting, or Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport, 100 miles away, and there are no matching reports of commercial airliners coming close, or flying that low in that area. (Which would be needed to verify the naval base comment that this was an optical illusion) Witnesses say the object moved very fast, and appeared to disappear and reappear a few minutes later. Most say it moved in a straight line, came to a stop and remained stationary for a moment, but it accelerated very quickly and turned sharply, or even appeared to be moving in reverse. Witnesses report hearing noise from the military planes, but no noise from the object itself.

If I may add my opinion: The military claim that this was an illusion is not plausible for several reasons: Tthe Object is consistently reported as being the wrong shape; there is a very large portion of the witnesses who are pilots or public safety officers of different branches – all of whom would be able to easily recognize a plane’s shape; and it was after sunset and the witnesses are consistently reporting the lighting as being dark.(i.e. the “reflection of light” wouldn’t have happened. Finally, the object has been consistently reported as being not more than 300 feet above the ground, at that distance it is clearly visible to see the details on any airplane. KRLD reported they had tried to confirm this with military bases throughout North Texas and even as far as Oklahoma but had not gotten any confirmation of any kind as to this being their air craft.

I will also add, that WFAA

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa080114_mo_ufospotting.21892ccb.html

is reporting that there were several sightings over about a week which may be why there is some inconsistency as to the date of the sightings. I believe that the majority of witnesses are talking about the sighting on the 8th, but that there have been similar objects seen over Stephenville over the last few weeks.

I hope this is helpful to you.


((NUFORC Note: We express our gratitude to the young woman who submitted the information. PD))


((NUFORC Note: Witness indicates that the date of the incident is approximate. PD))