2013-09-19 - Sequim, WA - Light

Ultra-quiet, ultra-fast bright yellowish-whitish light soared in straight line, at low altitude, red light flashed, craft vanished.

Many people in this small rural community have expressed suspicion this summer regarding possible "testing" in the area, with regards to the water north of Dungeness, Jamestown, and Port Williams. There are also many questions and no answers regarding a "private" project on Lost Mountain.

Around 19:30, I arrived at my good friend's house located in between St. Luke's Episcopal Church and Walmart, on the west side of Sequim, and started a conversation in the driveway.

After 10 minutes passed, my friend mentioned that he had seen another (suspected) "drone" this afternoon. We discussed, in layman's terms, the unusual characteristics of these "drone" craft in regards to their appearance. My lifestyle is that of a hermit, and yet this was the third person in the past week who has commented to me regarding these "drones" they have been noticing.

Around 19:45, my friend noticed a bright white light on the horizon. It seemed to be moving very slightly but not enough to be certain. I suggested that it could be a brightly lit residence on Lost Mountain, or bright headlights on Lost Mountain, based on the direction and the distance away. My friend countered that the houses on Bell Hill, which would be comparable in light output and in visibility, were barely visible at all despite being much closer to us. I commented that the light appeared to have a lamp post underneath it which was definitely black in color. My friend did not see anything resembling a post beneath the light. I consistently did, however, and after adjusting my vantage point, I observed that the "lamp post" seemed to fade from black to invisible at a distance beneath the light approximately 3x the height of the white spot in the sky.

I looked away for several seconds and consistently saw a sharply defined, straight, narrow, black vertical post or beam of some sort underneath the bright white spot, apparently attached to the base of the white spot. The sky was partly cloudy with a mild northwestward breeze. We wandered elsewhere and the topic changed for a few minutes.

When we returned to the driveway vantage point, a few minutes later, at the onset of dusk, my friend noticed that the bright light initially seemed to be gone, noticing a few seconds later that it seemed to have moved to a slightly lower elevation.

I also noticed that it was not as bright as it seemed to have been before, perhaps contrasting its surroundings the same amount as it had been previously (As compared to most lights which increasingly contrast their surroundings as the sky turns dark and the lights "take effect") The brightness of the light seemed to be in relation to the sky around it, perhaps as a means of conserving onboard energy while maintaining consistent visibility during a test run. This is purely my own hindsight speculation.

My friend mentioned his need to visit the grocery store before it closes and reminded me of my own need to do the same, and for a minute or two we thought nothing of the white spot in the distance and focused elsewhere.

As I turned and began walking toward my car, my friend shouted "Look at that, up there!" pointing at first straight above us and following an aircraft headed northeast. If directly above us were referred to as "12:00" using the position of the hour hand on a clock as an indication of its position, I saw what he was pointing at when it was between 1:00 and 2:00 position. The object was a bright yellowish white light at an altitude comparable to where one might see an ultralight or possibly a hang glider, and it moved more rapidly than any aircraft I recall seeing before. There was no flashing light on board as you would see on other aircraft; just a bright, yellowish white light moving rapidly across the sky in an almost perfectly straight line, headed northeast (slightly east by northeast). I noticed a very slight sway side to side as it sped away. Our vantage point was unique as we can presume that it passed straight over us, from Lost Mountain area.

The light was a different hue, though, than the one we had seen shortly before, and I do not think either of us initially realized that the two lights could be related, despite the fact that the craft went in a straight line away from the area we had been observing initially.

After maybe 10 seconds of rapid flight straight away from us, we noticed that it seemed to suddenly slow down to an abrupt near-halt, as a red light onboard began to flash brightly, 500ms on, 500ms off, on off on off for about 2 minutes as it slowly got further away and seemed to be slowly descending, before disappearing as the lights seemed to shut off or be lost in the clouds. It was extremely quiet, given its apparent altitude and velocity, although we both noticed a faint jet-like rumble briefly after it was already a few seconds away from us.

The first few calls that I placed to the hotline were mysteriously disconnected within the first few seconds; this is not a problem I often have to deal with.