So I had a UFO experience

[Travis]

Note "experience" because I can't say I saw it. I didn't. But I sure heard and felt something weird.

It was at night. I was up late, around 2-3 AMish (there's a pandemic, sue me) and things were chill as I was just watching some TV. Then my dogs started barking like there was an intruder or maybe raccoons on the porch. But my dogs quickly were barking everywhere and distressed. Turning in circles, barking at the ceiling. It was very disconcerting.

Then I started to hear it.

You know the sound of high voltage electricity? That ominous hum you hear near a transformer or capacitors? It was like that. Only higher in pitch. It was approaching my house and at terrific speed. I went to a window expecting to see some weird vehicle driving up the street but as I did I realized that whatever it was it was up in the sky.

It passed directly over my house and immediately the doppler change in pitch had it receding to the east. I ran outside to see if I could spy anything but it was too late. My dogs stopped barking. I stood there confused as all hell.

It was only at this point that I realized my skin felt funny. Was there some static electricity present or was this just nerves? I didn't know.

So, what was that? I dunno. Whatever it was it was flying pretty low and pretty fast. It didn't sound like anything I had ever heard before. No jet engines. No props. No nothing but that incredible sound of so much electricity.

I'm on a flight path for aircraft out of Edwards Air Force Base and Groom Lake. Back in the 80s we spotted black triangles that would turn out to be stealth aircraft. Was this just something very new and top secret? That would be my best guess.

But it sure was weird.

 

[Mike!]

Traveling sub sonic but low it likely passed overhead when the dogs reacted and the sound arrived very shortly afterward. I don't live close to an airport, but there are several within miles of me in different directions and distance. The closest is smallish but can and does accommodate jets that's about 8 miles away, and the Air Force base is about 50. 25 miles west is St. Louis' major airline hub along with Boeing. It's not uncommon to hear a fighter pass overhead, only to look up and see nothing because it was gone before the sound arrived.
I have no clue what you heard, but I've heard something similar traveling down the high speed rail tracks that are about 80 yards from my home. It was odd as heck sounding and traveling faster than any Amtrak ever dreamed of. I assume it was some kind of test drone because it was daylight and I saw nothing, but I can't see the tracks themselves from my house, but I can see trains going by.
Maybe Groom Lake was test flying an all electric aircraft of some unknown variety?

 

[shemp]

Weather balloon or swamp gas, no doubt.

 

[Scorpion]

I had a UFO experience in the days of sputnik one. A UFO is an unidentified flying object, and I have no idea what it was I saw. But it was out in the garden on a night when sputnik one was due to fly over. The garden was dark and it was a clear night, and I could see all the stars clearly. While waiting for sputnik one to pass over I noticed a star that appeared to be slowly moving across the sky in relation to the stars around it. I watched it and in moved gradually along for a minute or two. Then it stopped moving for a similar amount of time. Then it moved off again for a similar amount of time, then stopped again. It did this about three times before disappearing from view which took about a quarter of an hour..

It was soundless, and looked like any other star. It was certainly not a helicopter and I know of nothing that was supposed to be up there that could stop moving, so it was not a u2 spy plane.

Shortly after it disappeared from view sputnik one appeared, and it was brighter, and it moved smoothly across the visible sky in only a couple of minutes.

I have no idea what it was that I saw.

 

[Roger Ramjets]

It was at night. I was up late, around 2-3 AMish (there's a pandemic, sue me) and things were chill as I was just watching some TV.

What day was this? What TV program was on at the time?

You know the sound of high voltage electricity? That ominous hum you hear near a transformer or capacitors? It was like that.

Ominous? I find transformer hum comforting. What unnerves me is the total silence when the power goes out.

Only higher in pitch.

What pitch do you remember it being?

It was approaching my house and at terrific speed...
It passed directly over my house and immediately the doppler change in pitch had it receding to the east.

What speed is 'terrific'? What pitch did it change to?

It was only at this point that I realized my skin felt funny. Was there some static electricity present or was this just nerves? I didn't know.

Describe 'funny'.

If there is a lot of static electricity your hairs will stand on end. But nerves can do that too. Did you see any other signs of static electricity? Did you feel frightened?

So, what was that? I dunno. Whatever it was it was flying pretty low and pretty fast.

If it was traveling low then it probably wasn't very fast as aircraft go, but would seem fast compared to if it was flying higher. How low and how fast do you estimate it was flying?

It didn't sound like anything I had ever heard before. No jet engines. No props. No nothing but that incredible sound of so much electricity.

A 'higher' pitched humming sound, right?

I'm on a flight path for aircraft out of Edwards Air Force Base and Groom Lake.

Approximately where are you on that path?

 

[deaman]

Me, too.

UFO, "Strangers in the Night", double alive album.

Was up late, too, when I first heard and felt it.

Hummed along to several tracks.

Michael Schenker, incredible guitar playing!

 

[Axxman300]

If you live where I think you live, it's possible that there was a power-surge along the high-voltage line, and that unique atmospheric conditions allowed the sound to travel farther than normal.

And yes, this is an uneducated guess.

And then there's always a chance the USAF is testing something that sounds like an electrical hum.

I checked the USGS earthquake page, no activity in that area on the night in question.

 

[alfaniner]

I'm on a flight path where planes and helicopters seem to go directly over my house all the time, at different heights. One time in the early evening I heard "something" fly over. It was low and slow and unusual-sounding, and rattled the house enough for me to say "What the hell was that?" I went out to look but didn't see anything.

I saw a news report the next day that the military had done a flyover of the major baseball game downtown, with some giant superfortress thing, and I believe it upset some people because I think it happened on 9/11 (the date, not the actual event).

 

[Pixel42]

I had a UFO experience in the days of sputnik one. A UFO is an unidentified flying object, and I have no idea what it was I saw. But it was out in the garden on a night when sputnik one was due to fly over. The garden was dark and it was a clear night, and I could see all the stars clearly. While waiting for sputnik one to pass over I noticed a star that appeared to be slowly moving across the sky in relation to the stars around it. I watched it and in moved gradually along for a minute or two. Then it stopped moving for a similar amount of time. Then it moved off again for a similar amount of time, then stopped again. It did this about three times before disappearing from view which took about a quarter of an hour..

It was soundless, and looked like any other star. It was certainly not a helicopter and I know of nothing that was supposed to be up there that could stop moving, so it was not a u2 spy plane.

Shortly after it disappeared from view sputnik one appeared, and it was brighter, and it moved smoothly across the visible sky in only a couple of minutes.

I have no idea what it was that I saw.

Was there anything between you and it at any point - trees, houses? If not, you've no way of estimating how big it was or how fast it was moving. It could have been small and near and moving slowly, or big and far away and moving quite fast. Some kind of balloon (toy or large) moving with the wind (hence the stopping and starting) is a possibility, with either a light or a reflective patch on it. Perhaps a sky lantern.

 

[Scorpion]

Was there anything between you and it at any point - trees, houses? If not, you've no way of estimating how big it was or how fast it was moving. It could have been small and near and moving slowly, or big and far away and moving quite fast. Some kind of balloon (toy or large) moving with the wind (hence the stopping and starting) is a possibility, with either a light or a reflective patch on it. Perhaps a sky lantern.

NO!, there was nothing between the object and myself as it was a clear sky and I could see lots of stars. It looked like any other faint star until I noticed it had moved in relation to the stars surrounding it. Then I started watching it. As I said it seemed to move and stop in regular intervals. So I don't think it was a balloon blowing in the wind.

 

[Pixel42]

NO!, there was nothing between the object and myself as it was a clear sky and I could see lots of stars.

So, as I said, you have no way of estimating its size, distance or speed. Only if it went either in front of or behind something whose size and distance was known would that have been possible. So it could have been almost anything. As there's rarely any possibility of getting more information after such an observation, the only sensible conclusion is "insufficient data".

 

[Scorpion]

As there's rarely any possibility of getting more information after such an observation, the only sensible conclusion is "insufficient data".

Yes, I agree. I have no way of knowing what I saw.

 

[Thor 2]

So, as I said, you have no way of estimating its size, distance or speed. Only if it went either in front of or behind something whose size and distance was known would that have been possible. So it could have been almost anything. As there's rarely any possibility of getting more information after such an observation, the only sensible conclusion is "insufficient data".

To the rational mind true. Either that or "Caused by some natural, explainable phenomena, that we have limited knowledge off at the stage."

To the irrational however - or the one that craves proof of all things mystical. "Caused by gods, spirits, or extra terrestrials."

 

[Mike!]

Well, I guess whatever it was came back and got him.

 

[arthwollipot]

So, what was that? I dunno.

I'm going to suggest it was a helicopter. Probably one with a gas turbine engine. The sound you describe is almost identical to the sound of the Red Cross medivac chopper that was sent to the snowfields regularly in the winter, and which went almost directly over my house when I lived semi-rurally for ten years. I can tell you, the first time I heard it, it sounded weird and definitely not like a regular helicopter.

 

[Axxman300]

I forgot, Lockheed is testing a new tilt-rotor beast called called the Defiant.

Also, the MH/AH-6 sounds similar to what you describe, and they operate in your neck of the woods:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX4fbsUsgc4

Or the civilian equivalent that is used by county sheriffs, the CHP, and PG&E.

 

[JayUtah]

NO!, there was nothing between the object and myself as it was a clear sky and I could see lots of stars. It looked like any other faint star until I noticed it had moved in relation to the stars surrounding it. Then I started watching it. As I said it seemed to move and stop in regular intervals. So I don't think it was a balloon blowing in the wind.

If this had happened in modern times I would say you saw a spent rocket booster. My in-laws have land out in rural Montana where you get a very clear view of the night sky. We see all kinds of spacecraft fly overhead. Spent boosters tumble, and preferentially catch the light. So it seems as if they're there one second and gone the next.

But if this happened back in the late 1950s then it's harder to explain what you saw with that explanation. There just weren't that many boosters in orbit.

 

[Armitage72]

When a moving light suddenly stops in midair, it may indicate that the source of the light changed direction and began moving toward or away from the viewer, far enough away that there was no visible change in size.

 

[JayUtah]

When a moving light suddenly stops in midair, it may indicate that the source of the light changed direction and began moving toward or away from the viewer, far enough away that there was no visible change in size.

Indeed; good point. And thus we need to know whether the light seen was low on the horizon or high in the sky.

 

[Scorpion]

Indeed; good point. And thus we need to know whether the light seen was low on the horizon or high in the sky.

HI, the light I saw was almost overhead, not low on the horizon.