Five Intense Beams of Light
There was some lightning still in the area following a storm two hours earlier. Shortly after 11:00 p.m., I heard a deep buzzing sound outside similar to the noise a faulty electrical transformer makes. I looked to the west which would have been the northwest corner of 156th and Meredith St. in the northwest corner of Urbandale, a western suburb of Des Moines, IA. Each time a heard a buzzing, the western sky lit up. Thinking it was a transformer, I wasn’t alarmed. I kept watching but was then startled to see five intensely bright blue-white beams of lights shooting up from the ground into the air to form a fan of about five degrees in span. The lights were fixed relative to each. The lights went out, then back on again. Then the whole light array fanned to the south and disappeared. When I looked to the south, I saw a faint orange glow as if a tree was on fire, but then that glow faded. There was no further sound. Inspection of the area from the car the next day revealed no transformers in the area. The farmer’s field showed no visible signs of disturbance from the road. The electricity went out the next day for about two hours. We were told there had been a "public accident" that had caused an electrical failure. A neighbor witnessed the bright lights through the trees, but did not see the beams from her vantage point.
There was some lightning still in the area following a storm two hours earlier. Shortly after 11:00 p.m., I heard a deep buzzing sound outside similar to the noise a faulty electrical transformer makes. I looked to the west which would have been the northwest corner of 156th and Meredith St. in the northwest corner of Urbandale, a western suburb of Des Moines, IA. Each time a heard a buzzing, the western sky lit up. Thinking it was a transformer, I wasn’t alarmed. I kept watching but was then startled to see five intensely bright blue-white beams of lights shooting up from the ground into the air to form a fan of about five degrees in span. The lights were fixed relative to each. The lights went out, then back on again. Then the whole light array fanned to the south and disappeared. When I looked to the south, I saw a faint orange glow as if a tree was on fire, but then that glow faded. There was no further sound. Inspection of the area from the car the next day revealed no transformers in the area. The farmer’s field showed no visible signs of disturbance from the road. The electricity went out the next day for about two hours. We were told there had been a "public accident" that had caused an electrical failure. A neighbor witnessed the bright lights through the trees, but did not see the beams from her vantage point.
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Off
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
Urbandale
USA
30 seconds
30 seconds
41.63
-93.74
unknown
IA
Occurred : 7/17/2008 23:15 (Entered as : 07/17/08 23:15) Reported: 7/20/2008 5:18:05 PM 17:18 Posted: 8/12/2008 Location: Urbandale, IA Shape: Unknown Duration: 30 seconds Characteristics: The object emitted beams, The object made a sound, There were electrical or magnetic effects
Five Intense Beams of Light