2017-06-09 - Cherokee, NC - Circle

UFO Report 06/09/2017. On Friday, June 9, 2017, my two friends and were at Smokemont Campground just outside Cherokee, NC, in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We were not staying there, but had driven there from a neighboring town where we live, specifically to see the synchronized fireflies event that happens in late May, or early April, every year.

We parked and decided to walk along the path along the creek to first see the “glow worms” that my friends discovered the year before in the root bank of a tree up the hill that had a small spring in it. Tiny glow worms, but they're nonetheless, cool.

We walked back to the campground, found the darkest spot away from the camp fires, set up our chairs, and waited for the show (synchronized fireflies event). The turnout was low, probably because it was cool, and there was a full moon (strawberry moon, in fact).

I had just gotten back from a short walk down the road, and when I returned, I noticed that my friends were looking up at something in the sky. Naturally, I looked up and there in the sky was a white glowing object, seemed to be round in shape. At first it looked like a giant firefly but it was too high up in the sky. The first thing I noticed, was there were no blinking lights like an airplane. It continued in a line, then stopped, then moved forward, then seems to turn on its side like a tire rolling down a road and disappeared. The whole encounter lasted 20-40 seconds. There was no sound and I would have expected a sound since it was that close to us. The time was around 10:30 pm.

Two of us early saw the object stop and hover.

We left and the park and headed home. On the way, several cars were stopped in both directions, and we could see an elk on the side of the road. We thought that was all that there was but as we passed, we saw an elk calf was down in the road, likely hit by a car.

Being that we were from the area and the others were likely tourists, my friend called her friend that works in the park to determine who we should call about the incident. He stated that park officers patrol all hours and that they would know in short order. I am adding this one detail for one reason. When my friend told her friend on the phone that we had seen what seemed to be a UFO, he then relayed a similar experience that he and a coworker had in the park just last Saturday. He described a white object that moved through the night sky, then stopped and moved again, etc.

I am a 57 year-old female. I have never seen or reported a UFO. I do not drink or use drugs and I do not believe in aliens.

I know what I saw and from my account, this was a real UFO experience.