Triangle over Puyallup, WA

The report, as filed

On April 15, 2015 11:45 P.M. I was working on building a new front porch on my home. It was nearly midnight. I had to work late on my project because I had been exceptionally busy at work. I was cleaning up my tools and debris and carrying them west towards my garage. As I walked I glanced south and saw what I thought was the planet Jupiter. I spend a time behind the telescope looking at Jupiter, Saturn, etc… and only because of that fact did I realize that something was out of place. During that time of night and time of year, Jupiter has already passed the tree tops on the western edge of our property. Realizing that something seemed out of place, I looked more closely at that the object that I had mistaken for a planet. The size in the sky looked correct, also the brightness was comparable to Jupiter. At first the object seemed to be just hanging in place, I then wondered if I had mistaken it for another planet but then it started to move. It kept a relative track of west to south east. Suddenly, it made a very substantial, very abrupt turn due south, then another, equally sharp correction back to the east, then it began a sweeping arc back to the south. The movement seemed far too sharp for any aircraft that I have ever seen. I ran in the house and grabbed my 8x binoculars that were sitting next to the door and returned to my front yard. By the time I returned (roughly 15-20 seconds) the object had really picked up speed. It was moving far faster than an aircraft. I yelled for my wife but she didn’t hear me (as she was in the back of the house). I got the binoculars on it and could make out very little detail but this is what I saw. It appeared to be triangular in shape, it had one single, exceptionally bright white light that appeared to be centered in the object (it was so bright when viewed through the binoculars it did give the object a bit of an aura), and I couldn’t give a definitive size as I had nothing to compare it to, it had no landing lights, beacons, etc… just the one light and it made absolutely no sound. The night was quiet, except for the frogs (which had gone quiet during the event, not necessarily because of the event, as they do that from time to time at night). As the object began to move out of sight the white light seemed to take on an orange glow, like the moon seen through air pollution, then it just blipped out. The whole event couldn’t have lasted more than 2-3 minutes. The angle of my view must have dropped 15-25 degrees in elevation and 30 degrees from right to left as I tracked the object. The night was completely clear, the temperature was 45-50 degrees. It seemed very fast but, in fairness, not being able to judge the size or elevation of the object, I couldn’t say definitively, how fast it was actually traveling. It seemed to move about as fast as a satellite, when you watch them pass over. The object would’ve had to cross over or very near the flight path of Joint Base Lewis/McCord. We lived in the base’s airspace for nearly 4 years now. I have seen just about every type of aircraft come off that base, from Osprey, Chinook and Blackhawks to F-18’s, C-130’s etc… I have never seen anything come off that base that resembled, in any way, what I saw that night. The closest comparison that I could come up with was watching a satellite with the exception of possible size and flight characteristics. I did not report this to the authorities because I didn’t want people to think I was crazy. I know it sounds cliché but it’s the truth. I have seen some strange things in my life but I’m sure they’ve all had logical explanations and this may very well have a simple, logical explanation but I couldn’t come up with one. I found your site while searching the internet to see if anyone else might have reported something of this nature. I did tell my wife, knowing that I am a very honest and pretty logical person, she believed that I did, indeed, see something but she still had to chuckle when I came in and told her about it. It would be nice to know that I was not the only one to witness this phenomena. Thank you. Witness indicates that the date is approximate. PD

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #118962). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.