GLUFON: Misc Sightings

SIGHTINGS SUBMITTED TO GLUFON

Oct 1995 Jim Kopf (highvoltage) UFO Encounter

This encounter occurred in 1971, while aboard the aircraft carrier, USS John F. Kennedy CVA-67 (now CV-67) in the Bermuda Triangle. I was assigned to the communications department of the Kennedy and had been in this section about a year. The ship was returning to Norfolk, VA after completing a two week operational readiness exercise (ORE) in the Caribbean. We were to stand down for 30 days, after arriving in Norfolk, Virginia, to allow the crew to take leave and visit family before deploying to the Mediterranean for six months.

I was on duty in the communications center. My task was to monitor eight teletypes printing the "Fleet Broadcasts". On the top row were four teletypes each printing messages from four different channels. On the bottom row were four more doing the exact same thing except the signal was carried on different frequencies. If one of the primary receivers started taking "hits" I would be able to retrieve the message from the bottom one. I also notified Facilities Control of any hits so they could tune the receivers. On the other side of the compartment(room) was the Ship to Shore circuit with the top teletype being the receive and the bottom as the send (known as a duplex circuit). Next to this was the Task Group Circuit for ship to ship communications (task group operations or TGO).

It was in the evening, about 20:30 (8:30 PM) and the ship had just completed an eighteen hour "Flight Ops". I had just taken a message off one of the broadcasts and turned around to file it on a clip board. When I turned back to the teletypes the primaries were typing garbage. I looked down to the alternates which were doing the same. I walked a few feet to the intercom between us and the Facilities Control. I called them and informed them of the broadcasts being out. A voice replied that all communications were out. I then turned and looked in the direction of the ship to shore circuit and saw that the operator was having a problem. I then heard the Task Group operator tell the watch officer that his circuit was out also. In the far corner of the compartment was the pneumatic tubes going to the Signal bridge (where the flashing light and signal flag messages are sent/receive). There is an intercom there to communicate with the Signal Bridge and over this intercom we heard someone yelling "There is something hovering over the ship!" A moment later we heard another voice yelling. "IT'S GOD! IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD!"

We all looked at each other, there were six of us in the Comm Center, and someone said, "Lets go have a look!". The Comm Center is amidships, just under the flight deck, almost in the center of the ship. We went out the door, through Facilities Control and out that door, down the passageway (corridor) about 55 feet to the hatch that goes out to the catwalk on the edge of the flight deck (oppisite from the "Island" or that part of the ship where the bridge is). If you have ever been to sea, there is a time called the time of no horizon. This happens in the morning and evening just as the sun comes up or goes down over the horizon.

During this time you cannot tell where the sea and sky meet. This is the time of evening it was. As we looked up, we saw a large, glowing sphere. Well it seemed large, however, there was no point of reference. That is to say, if the sphere were low; say 100 feet above the ship, then it would have been about two to three hundred feet in diameter. If it were say 500 feet about the ship then it would have been larger. It made no sound that I could hear. The light coming from it wasn't too bright, about half of what the sun would be. It sort of pulsated a little and was yellow to orange.

We didn't get to looked at for more than about 20 seconds because General Quarters (Battle stations) was sounding and the Communication Officer was in the passageway telling us to get back into the Comm Center. We returned and stayed there (that was out battle station). We didn't have much to do because all the communication was still out. After about 20 minutes, the teletypes started printing correctly again. We stayed at General Quarters for about another hour, then secured. I didn't see or hear of any messages going out about the incident.

Over the next few hours, I talked to a good friend that was in CIC (combat information center) who was a radar operator. He told me that all the radar screens were just glowing during the time of the incident. I also talked to a guy I knew that worked on the Navigational Bridge. He told me that none of the compasses were working and that the medics had to sedate a boatswains mate that was a lookout on the signal bridge. I figured this was the one yelling it was God. It was ironic that of the 5,000 men on a carrier, that only a handful actually saw this phnomenon. This was due to the fact that flight Ops had just be completed a short time before this all started and all the flight deck personnel were below resting. It should be noted that there are very few places where you can go to be out in the open air aboard a carrier. From what I could learn, virtually all electronic components stopped functioning during the 20 minutes or so that what ever it was hovered over the ship. The two Ready CAPs (Combat Air Patrol), which were two F-4 Phantoms that are always ready to be launched, would not start.

I heard from the scuttlebut (slang - rumor mill) that three or four "men in trenchcoats" had landed, and were interviewing the personnel that had seen this phenomena. I was never interviewed, maybe because no one knew that I had seen it.

A few days latter, as we were approaching Norfolk, the Commanding and Executive Officers came on the closed circuit TV system that we had. They did this regularly to address the crew and pass on information. During this particular session the Captain told us how well we did on the ORE and about our upcoming deployment to the Mediterranean. At the very end of his spiel, he said "I would like to remind the crew, that certain events that take place aboard a Naval Combatant Ship, are classified and are not to be discussed with anyone without a need to know". This was all the official word I ever received or heard of the incident.

Being young and excited about my visit home and going to the Med, I completely forgot about it until years later when my wife and I went to see "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" at the movies when it first came out. In fact the friend that had been the radar operator was with his wife and went with us. As we walked across the parking lot to my car, I ask him if he remembered what We had experienced years earlier on the ship. He looked at me and said he never wanted to talk about it again. As he said it he turned a little pale. I never talked about the incident again. When I discovered "Aliens and Strange Phenomenon" on MSN and started reading the posts I started thinking about it again. Now I seem obsessed in finding out all I can about this phenomena.

Jim Kopf (Highvoltage) - Jimkopf@clark.net - Http://www.clark.net/pub/jimkopf

Huge Craft While Camping

GLUFON Internal Report Submission

My ex-boyfriend, we'll call him "pig", and I were camping at the sand dunes up at the coast. The place was very popular for three-wheeling, sand rails, etc. Anyway, it was between 10:30-11:00, I don't remember, and we had just returned and were sitting around our fire when we heard a very low humming sound. It was very low and at first I thought it was an approaching sand rail or bike. Pig was the first to notice it. He all of a sudden goes "What the f... is that?" I looked up and noticed a red light in the sky coming towards us. As this thing was approaching it blocked out the stars. It was huge and slow, it took about three minutes to reach us. We watched it as it came and I remember thinking "this can't be real, no way". I may have even said it out loud. Anyway, It passed directly over us and the thing was huge!! I would have to say it was bigger than a football field.

It was humming a little louder and I noticed that pig and I were shaking. I don't know if it was fear and excitement or the object that was making us shake. I can't tell you how close it was to us but if I had to guess I would say about a half mile up? I honestly can't say, it seemed close cause it was so big but far away at the same time. As it passed directly over us the red light kind of beamed down right on us. We kept watching it and as it went on its way it kept beaming it's light down. I suddenly became very scared and wanted to leave. We packed up and started to leave. When we got to the station at the exit there were a few army vehicles and tons of police cars and it looked like they were making everyone leave. It took us about and hour and a half to get out of there because of all the comotion. When we got home we kept watching the news and listening to the radio for weeks but we never heard anything about it. I even called one of the popular radio stations to tell them about it but they never put it on the air. It was like the whole thing never happened.

Remaining Anonymous

CLOSE ENCOUNTER ON INTERSTATE 84

By: Philip J. Imbrogno

In the past, the state of Connecticut has always been an area of few UFO reports, however this is no longer true. Since 1985 the counties of Fairfield and Litchfield and Hartford has seen a dramatic rise in the number of UFO reports. This UFO is described as being a semi circle or boomerang with multi-colored lights. Even more incredible the size of this UFO has been reported to be the length of a football field!. This UFO that has been seen recently in Connecticut is without a doubt the Hudson valley UFO which is described in my book NIGHT SIEGE THE HUDSON VALLEY UFO SIGHTINGS (Ballantine Books 1987).

For some reason unkown to this researcher the giant boomerang UFO has shifted it's activities from New York to Nearby Connecticut. The most recent sightings took place on May 26 of this year around interstate 84 one of the most heavily traveled highways in the northeast.

Between 9;30 and 10;15 PM more than 200 people phoned local and state police to report a huge object with bright lights flying low over the highway near the towns of Newtown and Southbury in Connecticut. Those witnesses that called state police in Southbury were told that it was nothing more than a group of Ultralight aircraft from Candlewood airport flying in close formation and hanging colored lanterns from the bottom of the plane. The police also told witnesses that the aircraft were painted black so that all that can be seen is the lights. Many of the witnesses to the phenomenon found it very hard to believe the offical explanation.

One witnesses to the UFO was Mrs. Betty Proulx of Middlebury who said that the object hovered over her house without a sound for over two minutes.There was no doubt in her mind that what she was looking at was one solid object.When Mr. Proulx heard about the explanation he could not accept it since he was in the air division of the Navy. "It was one craft and like no aircraft that I have ever seen in my life".

Another witnesses was Mr. Randy Etting a commercial airline pilot with over thirty years of experience. Mr. Etting said that the idea of the ultralight theory "is the prattling of idiots" Mr. Etting observed the lights from his home in Newtown Connecticut at about 9:45 pm. He said that there were at least eight lights of different colors flying very close together and without a sound. As the object passed his home he observed it in a pair of 7X35 binoculars. Mr. Etting told me that the UFO was one object and he saw some type of heat waves coming from the object which distorted the area around the lights. Mr. Etting watched the object with neighbors and his son for over ten minutes as it slowly drifted to the north west. All the witnesses agree that the UFO was one solid object and round in appearance.

The Etting party was observing the UFO while it was passing close to I-84. At this time over a dozen cars pulled over to view the UFO as it passed overhead. One witness a Charlie Tuperman described what happened that night.

"It was about 9:30 or so and I was driving East on 84 around the Southbury area when I noticed these lights ahead of me. They were low and it looked like a 747 was going to land on the highway.This thing had about ten lights in kind of a half circle and the lights were yellow, green, blue, white and red. This thing was going very slow and moving from the east to the west. All of a sudden every one on both sides of the road began slamming on their brakes and pulling over to the side. It was a dangerous thing to do since there were several trucks apparently trying the same thing. I pulled over and watched this thing pass directly over the west bound lanes. I saw a dark mass behind the lights and there was no sound. I saw the lights of a state tropper just ahead of me and I fiqured he was called to see what was going on. Then all of a sudden this thing gets real bright, I mean all the lights just got ten times brighter for about ten seconds or so, then they faded to where they were before and that is about as bright as a planes wing lights. That really scared me. I wanted to get going because I thought there was some type of invasion or something,I just wanted to get home. Besides I was afraid of some trucker plowing into my car. I watched it head west and lost it . I turnd on the radio for news, but didn't hear anything about any UFOs on any of the local stations".

Close Encounter in New Milford

At about 10:00 after the series of sightings in the I-84 area. The UFO was seen heading to the west. It was then seen in the New Milford Connecticut area by a Robert Nellis his friend Jeff and Mr. Nellis dog. They were all in Nellis car off a side road off Route 7 in the northern area of New Milford. They were driving home after a long day of boating upstate along the Connecticut river.The dog began to bark and cry and at that point Jeff looked over to the northeast to see a number of bright lights hovering over a stand of pine trees less than a quarter mile away. They stopped the car and at that time their car radio began to sound "funny" with all types of strange sounding static that interfered with the station that they were listening to.

They stopped the car and continued to watch the lights. At this moment the lights began to move slowly towards them. They were amazed at the size of the object, "larger than a football field". The dog continued to bark as the object passed over their car . Neil looked up and saw a very dark structure connecting the lights that extended toward the rear of the object. He said it was teardrop in shape and the lights in the front were in a half circle.The object was so large he said that" it covered the sky and blocked out everything overhead" The object he said was made of some type of "dark grey material with very little reflectability". There was no sound and they estimated that the giant UFO was no more than 500 feet above their car. The UFO then passed over their car and then shifted towards the north. They both noticed some type of flashing lights under the object that gave the impression as if something was moving. They watched the UFO slowly move away. The total duration of the sighting was ten minutes, however both men arrived home forty minutes later. This is could be a case of missing time, or the witnesses observed the object longer than they thought. Neil would call me for several days after my interview with him since he felt "uneasy and upset" about his Close Encounter. My research team and I are still investigating this case and it seems that it may be another of the many missing time cases that are escalating in the area.

Photographic Proof

This UFO was so bright and large that it was only a matter of time before someone would come forward with a photograph. To our surprise we were contacted by a person of high standing in the Southbury area who took a picture of the object as it moved very slowly over I-84 at about 9:30 PM. The photographer wishes to remain anonymous since his position is very sensitive. He his a very highly trained college educated man who fears that the publicity surrounding the photograph could hurt his career. He gave us full rights to the photograph and his sighting account providing we do not use his real name. We will refer to him as David.

David was on I-84 on Official busines when he saw the lights. The lights were in the northwest and heading east. As he watched, the object tilted and all the lights got much brighter.He was pulled off the road at the time and had his camera ready. The UFO was about 45 degrees above the horizon. Due to traffic he had time to take only one picture. His camera was a 35mm with a 50mm lens at 1.8, the film type was Kodacolor asa 400 and the exposure was 1/60th of a second, or 1/125. He was not sure of the setting, but feels it was 1/60th of a second. The object then moved toward the east without a sound. During an interview with this researcher, David told me that the he was sure there was a solid object behind the lights. He also said that when the object turned it looked like the lights on the sides were pulling out from the main mass, but he realized that this effect was due to the object changing posistion from his point of view.

What about the Photo:

Several photo-analysis experts are now looking at the photograph. Our initial study showed that the image is without a doubt hanging in the sky above the ground. Also the photograph was looked at by Dr. Willy Smith a scientists and UFO researcher of some repute. Dr. Smith's initial calculations show the object to be anywhere from 650-1600 across!

We believe that this photograph is one of the best nightime UFO pictures taken in the past twenty years. There were quite a few witnesses to the sighting over a twenty-five mile radius, all reporting the same thing. A close examination of the original negative shows that the lights are reflecting off of some type of structure in the central part of the object.Also the lights are in a perfect half circle. There is no doubt that what ever the UFO photograph represents it is one solid object. We hope to get more data on the photograph and the sightings in the weeks to come. I have taken an add in the local papers asking for videos and photographs and sighting accounts from that night.

A Rational Explanation?

What about the theory that the UFO is nothing more than Ultralights from Candlewood airport. We questioned state police on this theory. An officer stated that they made a mistake about the airport, it wasen't Candlewood but Stormville airport. A flight instructor at Stormville later told us that there is only one Ultralight at Stormville and it only flys in the day since it is illegal for them to fly at night.

The UFO sightings in the Northeast continue. In the days to follow I received several calls from witnesses who saw formations of military helecopters in the sighting area. One witnesses took a pictue of this formation. Is the goverment involved in the mysterious happenings over the Connecticut area? Many of the residents feel that the goverment is well aware of the UFO and is doing its best to play down the sightings by explaining them away. I called nearby Bradley international airport to find out if they had any information about the sightings. I was informed by air traffic control that no formations or large aircraft were tracked on radar at that location and time. I was also told that unless the "aircraft" have transponders (a device placed in aircraft that help identify them on radar) in them they would not be picked up at that location at an altitude of less than 2,000 feet. I have enough witnesses in different locations at the same time observing the UFO to determine that the approximate altitude was between 1,000 and 1300 feet. Based on this information my calculations indicate that the span of lights was at least 900 feet! Its apparent size in the sky was quite large,this is evident by the image on the 35mm frame that takes up almost half the negative. It is obvious from the photograph and by the witneses statments that something more than ultralight aircraft was in the sky over Connecticut that night.

If you have had a sighting, feel free to submit it to GLUFON, your anonymity will be respected if you fear ridicule. Please send them to sightings@glufon.com, or even to discuss it avoiding publicity altogether. Genuine responses only please.