2011-07-31 - Lakeside, CA - Fireball

Pulsating orange ball that landed, then disappeared.

Sometime in July, 2011, I had gone throughout the entire day with the unshakable feeling that I was going to witness something, or that something was going to happen. The feeling was vague associated with the sky, and since I had been watching the sky closely since a strange sighting in 2002, I was filled with much anticipation. However, as the day wore on into night, I experienced absolutely nothing.

At approximately 2330 hours (11:30 p.m.) I approached my bedroom window (which faces South) and observed a bright, orange orb rising between the tree tops, on the other side of my apartment complex. The orb pulsated, as if it consisted of flame, but I did not see flames. The orb rose steadily until it was above the height of the trees -- approximately sixty feet up -- before coming to a complete stop. The orb hovered completely still for a few minutes before slowly moving to the Northwest. When it passed out of sight, I ran outside and saw it was coming over the dog-runs we have at the West end of the complex.

After a while, it again stopped and hovered for several minutes. The area was very quiet, aside from some distance sounds of passing cars on the freeway about a half-mile away. The orb made no discernible sound.

I ran inside, to get my video camera, but when I tried to get the orb on film, it was too dark for my camera to detect it. When I tried to zoom in, the orb appeared on the camera's screen, but the image was too blurry to have any discernible likeness. The orb then moved farther Northwest, towards the hill behind the dog-runs. It again stopped and hovered, for a couple of minutes, right over the house behind the dog-runs.

The orb then moved downwards and landed on the hill, just to the North of the house, coming to rest between a couple of trees.

Using the trees as a guide, I was able to estimate the size of the orb to have the same approximately diameter as a Volkswagen Beatle is long.

There was no light on the hill, except for a floodlight on the East side of the house (facing East) and the light from the orb. I thought, for a moment, that I could see something moving to the left (South) of the orb, but I still could not see any details. Attempting to use my camcorder again had the same results as before.

While I considered trespassing on someone else's private property to get a closer look at the thing, there was a very loud popping sound, similar to what happens when one steps on a light-bulb, and then darkness and silence. I continued to stare at the area for several minutes, and again considered trespassing, but I could not see anything well enough to determine if there was anything still on the side of the hill, where the orb had been.

I examined the area (from the dog-runs) early the next morning, but I saw no indication that anything had ever been resting on the hill, the night before.


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