Point Pleasant, NJ - Unknown

Point of light moving at high speed with stops describing a rectangle.

So, this happened 50 years ago, but the memory is as clear as yesterday. I was 14 yrs. old at a camp on the Delaware River, working as a nature counselor. A large field there was perfect for astronomy and on good viewing nights, I would be out trying to locate constellations.

On the incident night I started about 2300 and continued to 0100, the date was about 20 Aug., '64, but may have been a few days before. There was no moon, the sky was ink black with brilliant stars, at this time. I was looking south. I saw what appeared to be some shooting stars, not uncommon, but then a star moving as fast as a shooting star caught my eye.

A light, as a bright star just to the left of the center of the sky moved from left to right, stopped then turned south moved about a quarter distance of the sky stopped turned back to the left recrossed turned again a returned to the starting point. The path was rectangular and did not look like an aircraft in a holding pattern, as the turn points was sharp right angles. I had started studying for flight training and had 10-12 hours by age 16, expensive, worked pumping gas at an airport.

But, in 1964 was just a dream with books.

The item that just was unnatural was the exact, clean, crisp 90 degree turn with no change in speed. You could have used a right angle to draw the event. I recognised then that for the turn to appear that crisp the object would have to be very far away but I had no comparison for distance, however the velocity was so high that it covered over 1/2 of the sky in 3 seconds. So, see object point of light, high speed 3 seconds, stop acute turn, 2 seconds down, stop acute turn, 3 second flight, stop acute turn flight 2 seconds return to start point.

This flight plath consisted of 3 cycles, then slight deviation out of pattern north for a second then gone, looked like acceleration then gone, not visisble.

Since then I graduated college, an infantry officer, medical school, and a instrument rated pilot and an AME.

I knew at the time this was not a conventional aircraft. The size of the flight path would require and extremely fast aircraft at distance flying squares. On the other hand the aircraft would be much closer 10-15 miles, but then aircraft navigation lights, landing lights would be see and the turns would be gentle banking.

This was what illuminated, no twinkle, high speed, sharp 90 turns, then just disappeared. There it is, what it is. I'm seen a lot of aircraft from the ground and from the cockpit. Never since have seen anything like this event.


((NUFORC Note: Source indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate. PD))