Cylinder over I-10 (MM# 15; 10 mi. N of MS), MS

The report, as filed

I was 15 miles past the border of Mississippi heading north on 1-10, at approximately 2:23am. I had the top down on my car, and was admiring the stars-- There were more than I had ever seen in the sky. The Milky Way had never been so clear in the sky. I saw something that looked like a HUGE comet-- at first. I saw a black tube, surrounded by blue lightning, surrounded by black and white as if the very sky had been torn open. It shot upwards, growing bigger, until it disappeared with a flash! I FELT that flash, like an electromagnetic wave. It was so big and bright, all the other stars seemed to be drowned out by it. It all happened in about a second-- Long enough for me to scream "whaa--AAAHH!" And I did scream. I screamed and had to pull over, the experience was so moving and powerful.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #120647). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.