Other over Cottonwood Lakes, High Sierras, CA

The report, as filed

I was sleeping under the stars in my sleeping bag in a high lakes area in Golden Trout Wilderness just below Mt. Langley near one of the Cottonwood Lakes (maybe 3 or 4). There were 14 of us in our party, part of a boy scout backpack trek. I was the furthest out, about 50 to 75 feet away from the 2 nearest me in their tents. We were camping at about 11,000 ft elevation. This was just before the Perseid Meteor Shower and I was having trouble sleeping, going in and out for a couple of hours from 10:30 PM to 12:30 P.M. I was looking at the night sky and did see several shooting stars during this time. I noticed a couple of strange things. One, I could hear a sound in the woods that appeared to be coming from an electrical appliance. I knew it wasn't natural. It was low and very subtle but it was there. I also noticed at some point, don't remember if before or after the incident what appeared to be a star go dark before my eyes. It was there, then the star was gone. The light of the star disappeared before my eyes as I was looking at it. I just thought to myself what the heck was that. Some time after 12:30PM, I will guess about 1:00 or so this is what happened. I was so rattled by the event that I didn't even look at my smartphone to see what time it was. I heard what I can only describe as a very high pitched electrical humming sound. It started to grow in intensity, so much so that I thought my eardrums were going to rupture. I didn't experience any pain, but the sound was intense. As I opened my eyes, there was a wave of pinkish, orange, purple light all around me. I was surrounded by granite boulders and foxtail pine trees, but I thought the whole night sky was dancing around me in these wave-like color tones. I was scared, because I knew this was not natural. In my head I said to God, "Dear Lord, please help me." And then everything went back to normal in an instant. I don't think this lasted more than 10 seconds or so. In the morning, I shared my experience with the adults in the group. None of them heard or saw anything. They thought is was bizarre. Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate. PD

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #142702). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.