Cross over Washougal, WA

The report, as filed

Hello, I am H (this is an alias) I just turned twenty-one years old, and I live in a small town in Washington, the town of Washougal... It's near Portland, Oregon; maybe twenty or so miles away. Anyhow, I have grown up in a culture of sci-if loving, alien-addicted "extraterrestrial life is out there" exposure and I, myself accept that it's quite likely that we are but one of many civilizations of advanced life in the vast universe. Lately in Washougal, the sky has been pristinely crystal-clear, and a few times, I've tried to remedy my chronic insomnia at night by going outside, in the chilly October air. On October 3, at around 4:14 a.m, I was looking up at the stars when I noticed something unusual, in the southernmost part of the sky. As I focused on it with my eyes, I could see that it was roughly cross-shaped - but instead of being totally straight, the arms of the cross angled downward in an arch, and they emitted a blinding light. During some 'bursts' of light, I looked away, to avoid the bright light. There was a solid, oval-shaped ring around the cross, which would occasionally strobe rapidly with every color in the rainbow... It was an astounding and mind-boggling display. I could not make sense of it, if it truly was an earthly aircraft. I watched this object for well over an hour, and it stayed -hovering- in the same general vicinity... A part of the sky in-between two massive Douglas Firs, which were clearly visible to me, well over two miles away. I suspect -with that point of reference- that the cross-shaped object was about three-to-five miles away... It was hovering unsteadily (it seemed to struggle at times, sinking as though it was losing power; and then darting upwards, unexpectedly - going speeds that could not possibly be achieved with our current technology). It wobbled around unsteadily in the same vicinity for an hour and a half, before it began to gradually ascend up, like a rocket, except without any atmospheric resistance... It just cut right through - the object shot straight up into the sky. It's light-trail was so bright, large liquid-like streaks trailed behind the object, like nothing I'd ever seen before. That's when I noticed that the bright light seemed to move much like a fluid, acting with many properties of water. As the object rose higher and higher up into the atmosphere, it's silhouette very rapidly disappeared... It was gone at this point. When I entered my house, it was 5:52 am, and I held an uneasiness in my stomache. I had always considered ETs to be out there, but experiencing an actual UFO in the sky, so near you... it changed the way I feel about a lot of things. I understand the persistence and perseverance of the UFO community after my experience. I'd like to tell family and friends, but I know that I'll be judged harshly for it. It's awful, how so many ignorant people laugh believers off the stage. At the very least, I'm happy to be able to share my first experience with an identified flying object.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #114164). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.