2018-05-26 - Gary, SD - Light

Ten bright orange lights move into formation, hover, turn white, and then vanish.

My roommate shouted for me to come out on the deck and take a look at several lights that were rising up into the sky.

I live on a hilltop, and the alley slopes downward, toward a creek with woods, a park, an inn, and a campground.

Venus was clearly visible low in the northwestern sky. These objects were brighter.

When I first saw them from the deck, they were shining a deep gold, turning red or orange as they rose higher. They were moving into a formation that appeared to match the constellation Orion.

I ran back inside, grabbed my camera, ran back out, and started jogging down the alley to the north, taking pictures as I went. I came to a vacant lot and saw that there were 10 in total. They had broken formation. One began to turn pale, then white, and shot off at high speed to the west.

The nine remaining objects began to drift apart. None of them moved very fast, but I did observe upward and downward hovering, lateral movements, pauses, and a few sharp turns. As they were drifting apart, they too began fade, first turning pale yellow, then white, before completely disappearing. Just before they disappeared, a residual haze or aura remained for a few seconds, before dissipating.

I walked around town (very small, population 200) and saw plenty of people sitting outside around campfires or tinkering in their garages, but nobody had been looking up. I walked through the campground, but from that vantage point, a heavy canopy of elms and cottonwoods would've obscured the view. Nobody was launching Chinese lanterns.

I took a few photos that may be useful. I was able to capture the color changing process, which reminded me of the following quote from John Keel's Operation Trojan Horse: "In a majority of all landing reports, the objects were said to have turned orange or red before descending. When they settle to the ground, they 'solidify' and the light dims or goes out all together. On takeoff, they begin to glow red again. Sometimes they reportedly turn a brilliant red and vanish. Other times, they shift through all the colors of the spectrum, turn white, and fly off into the night sky until they look like just another star." I've seen them in this area before.


((NUFORC Note: We have amended the date above, but it is only an estimate. We have attempted to contact the source of the report to confirm the date. PD))

((ADDENDUM FROM WITNESS))

Hello Peter,

I called the hotline shortly after you left me a message about the date of my sighting, which I'd mistakenly entered as June 26. It was supposed to be May 26.

Thank you,

((name deleted))

((END ADDENDUM))

((NUFORC Note: We have corrected the date above. PD))