2012-11-10 - Creswell, OR - Circle

Very bright lights like an airplane, but went dark and saw a round, gray object at a high altitude.

Object seen on Saturday, November 10, 2012 at approximately 11:45 pm.

My wife and I had just returned from watching a football game locally. We pulled up in front of our house. (suburban neighborhood) and I noticed very bright lights to the south. Since we have a small airport here in town (behind me and on the other side of a freeway to my east) I assumed it was a low flying airplane making an approach to land. I walked my wife to the door and turned to look at the lights again. I realized that there were no red and green lights as required and the lights seemed brighter than a small plane. So I assumed maybe it was a commercial airliner making its approach into Eugenes regional airport to my northwest.

The craft appeared to stop its forward motion. I ran inside to grab a pair of binoculars. When I came out and looked at the object, it almost appeared that instead of what I thought were lights, almost looked like it was on fire. Flickering but I saw no smoke or vapor trail. (Maybe the atmosphere causing the lights to appear to be flickering) It was then I realized that the object was not an altitude for a plane making an approach locally, but at what I would estimate to be at least 30,000 feet.

I have observed jetliners flying over my town at high altitudes with my binoculars, high enough to produce a vapor trail. And I could see that it was a plane with wings and lights etc…so I felt confident estimating the objects altitude.

The lights all of a sudden went dark. I pulled the binoculars down straining to catch a glimpse of the craft with the naked eye. And that’s when I saw a faint, gray object, traveling about the speed of a satellite orbiting earth. I found it with my binoculars again. It was at a very high altitude, no lights, no smoke or vapor trail. Grey, round, not like a ball but like a disk from my vantage point.

I followed the object in my binoculars for at least another minute or two as it headed north, and finally disappeared behind some clouds and my roofline.

I called a local news station the next day to ask if anyone else had reported strange lights, but no one had.

I talked to my dad the next morning. He is retired from Boeing and once held his pilots license. I asked him if what I saw could have been a weather balloon, but he said they don’t have lights (especially that bright) and wouldn’t have been traveling at the rate of speed.

I honestly don’t know what I saw that night, but it was not normal.