2010-09-04 - Huntington, WV - Circle

Circular black object with single bright white light, hovering, turning, then moving at incredible speed.

I was driving home in my vehicle at approximately 7 pm on Sept 4, 2010 and noticed a bright white light in the sky ahead of me. The light was steady, not blinking or twinkling, and there were no other lights around it. I was driving East. I have a Windstar minivan that has a long, slopping windshield and provides a big view of the sky above. I didn’t pay attention to the light at first, it was sitting nearly stationary and there is an airport close by so there are helicopters in the air all the time. But, this light was so bright I couldn’t ignore it. Note, it was not dark yet, I did not have my headlights on yet. The size was approximately the same diameter as holding the round end of a pencil eraser at arms-length. But, immediately I noticed the object the light was attached to. It was round (well, circular looking at to directly) and very dark, almost black. So it seemed to create a black halo (though obviously solid) around the light (keep in mind the sk! y was still bright and light blue at the time). Since I was driving east, the sun was behind me at this time.

I could only estimate, based on what I know of small aircraft (I’ve lived near an airport my entire life, and I am now 50 years old… I’ve seen thousands of aircraft in the sky), I can say it was flying lower than most Cessnas, but higher than the medivac helicopters I’ve seen. My mind, for what it’s worth, latches on to the idea that it must have been 16-20 feet in diameter, black body included. As I continued driving (35 mph on a dead-straight road, in the middle of town which is completely flat) the object picked up a little speed and started moving away from me in a curved path (if you drive toward a stationary object or star, it would 'seem' to be coming closer, not moving away from you). I would estimate this movement to be about the speed of a medivac helicopter (at this distance, a helicopter can be heard, and it was warm and I had my windows down. There was no noise coming from this craft). It continued to move, I would estimate about 10-15% across the sky, curving ! east.

Now, here’s where it gets interesting… everything before I just consider curious, but not not-worthy. But, as I stopped at the stop light (so my car’s movement has no bearing now), this craft literally took off! Heading in the direct opposite direction it was heading. It was heading directly West and directly toward me. All this time I had been looking at it at approximately a 45% angle from the ground… this thing went from moving East to moving West immediately, and went from 45% to directly overhead in no more than 2 seconds, and it disappeared from my view out the windshield. I can’t say where it went from there, but directly West (as it was traveling) from where I was, and only about 2 miles away, is one of the largest oil refineries in the East (the Marathon Petroleum Refinery). So, if it kept it’s course, it would have passed directly over the refinery.

I then turned 'right on red' at the light, and looked out the passenger-side door window, but the object was already gone from the sky.

I would like to repeat, it was broad daylight, no cars had their lights on, there were no interior lights in my van to cause reflections. This object, whatever it is, was in the sky, and maneuvered in a way that no known aircraft can.

Again, me, I’m 50 years old, college educated, a professional artist. This is the first report I’ve ever made, this is the first thing in the sky I’ve ever seen that I can’t explain using logic.

I looked on the site earlier and saw a few other reports this month from my area regarding a bright white light, so decided I should report what I saw as well.