Light over Coeur d'Alene, ID

The report, as filed

My husband and I moored our sailboat at a buoy in Beauty Bay in north-east Lake Coeur d'Alene, ID, on May 6th, 2016. I awoke to a bright light coming in through the spaces around the cabin door (roof of the cabin) at 10:30 at night. At first, I thought someone had boarded our boat because it went from perfectly still to rocking intensely from side to side. This rocking only lasted about 5-10 seconds before it was still again. My husband was also awakened by this and, while he didn't see the light coming from the door, he saw it outside the window. I urged him to investigate and when he went up, hesitantly, he said he saw a bright light coming from the sky searching the area. When I asked him what was out there, he told me that there weren't any boats approaching or leaving the bay and that there were still no other boats in this tiny bay. He said all he could see was a helicopter searching the area. I thought this was bizarre since neither of us heard any noise as one might expect from a helicopter or airplane. When I asked him if it was shaped like a helicopter, he said all he could see was the light, not the body of the aircraft. He also said that the one bright light was moving in circles searching the area (not the aircraft, just the spotlight). I called the Coeur d' Alene police department and asked if there were helicopters in the area. The lady I spoke to looked and said that there weren't any police or medical helicopters in the area, but there was one medical helicopter at the south end of the lake. She also said that, being a medical emergency, even if it had gone through our area, which was unlikely, it wouldn't have hovered or searched with a light. She then contacted the Spokane police department to see if they had come into Kootenai County and they said their helicopters were in Medical Lake, WA, at that time last night. I'm logical and skeptical and search for scientific explanations. I am 35 years old and healthy and have never done drugs in my life. I have a Masters degree and work in the field of education. ((ADDENDUM FROM WITNESSES, FOLLOWING RADIO APPEARANCE ON JUNE 01, 2016.) Bright light and rocking boat on calm waters. ADDENDUM to original report by ((husband's name deleted)) and ((wife's name deleted)) There are a couple of pieces of additional information I feel we should mention. The boat rocked hard at an estimated 15 degree angle, back and forth port to starboard roughly every second for about 15 seconds. After the boat shook, my husband said the water remained glass-like and perfectly still. He was on deck just seconds after the boat became still, yet the water showed no turbulence or other signs of disturbance. After checking the boat for intruders and scanning the bay for other boats, ((husband)) noticed the light in the sky and watched until it faded away. He said it was about the altitude of the surrounding hills and smaller than the full moon but very bright. The light was likely in the southeast sky moving northwest. (Determined by the most likely positioning of the boat in the water.) The light didn't streak or shoot away, just faded. ((husband)) then came back into the cabin assuming it was a helicopter. I questioned why it wasn't making any noise and wondered where it went after he lost sight of it, but we didn't have an answer. After the incident occurred, we crawled under the covers, held each other, and both fell back to sleep very quickly. Morning came in a flash. The relief in knowing there wasn't anyone else on board our boat was comforting and the bizarre circumstances didn't begin to alarm us until we had time to ponder the events when we woke up. In addition, we were awakened by the chirping of at least a dozen birds the next morning. When I finally peeked out of the cabin door, I had to take a video because there were birds chirping and fighting and flying quickly all around the boat. That hadn't happened on other boat trips. After stopping the video, more birds tried landing on the metal railings on the boat and flew back quickly, seemingly unable or unwilling to land. Others were able to land on the canvas cover on the back of the boat, but fought for the area. The birds were not unique... Their behavior was. That's when we descended back into the cabin to discuss the possibilities and try to explain the strange night. We ruled out cars passing on a shore road, ruled out other boats, and ruled out someone getting on the boat. We even wondered if a car had fallen into the bay. There was no evidence of anything of the sort. Nothing explained the sudden rocking, the still water, the bright light filling the cabin, and the strange light in the sky. The fact remained that we were alone on the water in a deserted bay, so that's when I decided to call the local police and start asking questions to hopefully explain what happened. So far there has been no logical explanation of the events from that night. We will send photos of the bay that were taken in the evening, just a few hours prior to the event. The images show the surrounding hills and the smooth water of the quiet bay. ((END ADDENDUM)) We spoke via telephone with the witness, and she sounded to us to be quite eloquent, and quite sober-minded. We suspect that both she and her husband are reliable witnesses. PD

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #127215). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.